


Life's lie

by NoName20031



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27310405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoName20031/pseuds/NoName20031
Summary: On the first day of October, 1989, forty-three women around the world simultaneously gave birth. None of the women showed any prior signs of pregnancy. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and playboy adventurer, made it his personal mission to find and adopt as many of these children as possible. He got eight of them.Zariah Hargreeves, aka number eight, is one of the eight siblings. Growing up she was told that she wasn't special, weak and even stupid. She's been on the pills her father had given her since she was a little kid and hasn't known anything but the life inside the academy. What happens when her father suddenly passes away and the siblings stand together for the fight of their lives.Warnings: cursing, abuse and stuff. Have fun.Up to chapter 4 are already edited, so the rest may have spelling and grammer errors, but bare with me alright :D.I don't own the umbrella academy, just my original characters and most of the plot.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz, OC/OC, Vanya Hargreeves/Leonard Peabody





	1. Cast

**Number eight, Zariah** **(from the Arabic word** **_zahrah,_ ** **which means** **_blooming flower (at least that is what the internet told me))_ ** **:**

Laura Dreyfuss

**Young number eight:**

Ele Keats (from 1992)

**Jake Williams**

Mike Faist

**The rest of the cast as themselves**


	2. Chapter 1: We only see each other at weddings and funerals

Zariah was in her room reading when Pogo knocked on the door. She was never one to sleep till much after 7 am.   
"Hey, Pogo. Is it time for breakfast?" Zariah looked up from her book to meet his eyes. They looked sad, even filled with grief.   
"Miss Zariah. I'm sorry to inform you that your father has passed away." Zariah's eyes went wide with shock. She had just seen him the evening before. He seemed fine to her.  
"How?" Her throat lumped against her will.  
"I'm afraid it was a simple heart failure. I have already called all of your siblings. They will be here soon. Is there anything I could do for you?" He asked politely.  
"No, thanks."  
"Alright." Pogo nodded and walked out of the room. Zariah stood up to follow. She didn't even notice when she entered the kitchen. Her feet had dragged her down to there on their own. Her mom was standing there with a big smile plastered on her face.  
"Are you hungry?" She asked cheerfully.   
"No, sorry mom. Could you give me some tea?" Zariah sat down at the table and rested her head in her hands. Her mother placed a cup near her head and pored the already set tea in the cup.   
"Did you take your medicine?" Her mother held the bottle in front of Zariah and shook it a bit to get her attention.  
"Why do I have to take them? I have felt empty ever since I began taking them."  
"You know what your father told you. You're sick and they keep you from dying." The smile was still on her mom's face as she opened the small bottle and popped out a pill. Zariah sighed as she took the pill with some tea.   
"Do you know when they'll be home?" She asked her mother.  
"We can expect them in three days. Your father will be cremated tomorrow, Luther arrives the day after and the funeral is set the day after that. Would you be so kind to help me clean your siblings' rooms? I'll bake cookies after."   
"Sure." She didn't actually look forward to her siblings' arrival, especially Luther and Allison, but she knew that she could at least try to give them a chance. They may have abandoned her, but at least the rest of them kept in touch from time to time. And, yeah, Vanya was the only one she talked with, but Klaus coming to her now and then to see if she has some money and Diego asking her to bail him out was more than number one and three ever did. And don't get her wrong. She thought that Diego was an ass most of the time. It was just that he sometimes showed his soft spots to her when no one else was around. That was what made him the more tolerable than Luther. Her mind drifted of to the simple time of their childhood, well simple is a big word. It was a total chaos, but at least they were together. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, Ben, Vanya and her. How she missed Ben and Five. Their lifes would have been so much different if those two hadn't died. Eventhough Zariah didn't actually know if Five had died, she had just assumed it after a few years.

**Three days later**

Zariah was sitting in the living room. Luther had been home for one day now and was already getting on her nerves. He would constantly ask her about their father's death and other stuff she didn't really deem a top priority right now. He didn't even take the time to talk with her about how she had been, just dismissing her as she tried to be civil. She wondered when her other siblings would come back. As if he had heard her thoughts, Diego walked through the door. She could see him from where she sat and send him a small smile. He gave one back before walking off, most likely to find their mom. Of course she wanted for him to give her something more than just a smile after all the times she bailed him out, but she didn't expect more than that she got. She got up and strolled over to the library. She could choose between three books, in her opinion at least. It was between _To kill a mockingbird, 1984_ and _The Great Gatsby_. She settled on reading 1984 since it was the easiest for her to reach. The other two were standing on the topshelfs that she couldn't reach without climbing on a chair. She took the book and opened it somewhere in the middle, not wanting to start the whol thing over for the seventh time. She walked while reading, almost tripping over the coffee table, but finally settled back on the couch.

"Hello?! Someone home?" Zariah heard Allison call out. She laid her book down on the coffee table and turned her head.   
"Hey, Allison." She greeted softly. There was no smile on her face. She didn't even take the energie to make one. She never got along with Allison and she didn't feel like smiling. It was not that she was really sad, but just empty and tired. Being tired with Luther in the house was nothing rare. The man had a weird schedule, meaning he'd get up early to do push-ups. Even after going to the moon, he kept doing it.  
"Zariah! Good to finally see you!" Allison sounded so happy, so sincere.   
"Yeah." Was all she got in response.   
"How are you doing? I wanted to call, but-"  
"You're too busy, I know. I'm fine. How's Claire doing? Especially with the whole divorce thing going on."  
"She- she has it hard, but Patrick hasn't seen the last of me. I'm going to get her back, you know."  
"Good luck." Zariah walked away after that, not feeling like talking to anyone. She was going to the only place she knew she could have her beloved sollitude, her boring old room.

She walked passed her father's office when she heard some noise coming from in there.   
"Klaus?" She questioned ones she saw the messy dark hair sticking out above her father's desk.   
"ZAR!" He jumped up and ran over to hold his sister in a tight embrace. "I've missed you." Zariah stood a little awkward until Klaus finally released her. He looked her up and down as she did the same.   
"Are you looking through dad's stuff to find something to sell?"   
"No." He said with an almost innocent voice, but almost wasn't good enough if you wanted to trick her. She grew up in a house where he would be parading around her and the others all day, so she knew all his tricks.   
"Just take some small stuff. Luther is already being an ass and I don't think he won't see it if you take dad's lamps."  
"You, Zariah, are the best sister in the whole world." Klaus grabbed her face and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. She pulled a disgusted face before shaking her head with a genuine small smile and left the room. She might not have shown it, but Klaus was one of the siblings she actually liked having around. Maybe it was also because he could summon the dead, which means that he could summon Ben. But for that he had to be sober and that wouldn't happen even if the world would go up in dust.

"Vanya? You're actually here." Zariah heard Allison say. She quickly made her way back to the hall to see her sisters standing there, hugging.   
"What is she doing here? She doesn't belong here." Diego walked past her.   
"Don't say that. It's not that you belong here more than she does." Zariah defended her sister. Vanya shot her a grateful smile, only now noticing her presence.   
"And way to dress for the occasion, by the way." Allison chimes in.   
"At least I'm wearing black." He revered to not only Allison's blue shirt, but also to Zariah's red and white shirt with blue jeans.   
"No, I- maybe he's right. Maybe I should go." Vanya already moved to the door.   
"No, forget him. We're glad that you're here."  
Allison took of after that.   
"At least you can save us from out crazy ass siblings." Zariah joked after she had fiven Vanya a quick hug. They walked into the living room, parting ways as Vanya stalked over to where all the books were and Zariah got comfortable on the couch. She quickly took her book out and opened it.   
_Dad, I had figured, why not? V._ She had written in it.   
"Welcome home, miss Vanya." Pogo startled Zariah. She looked at the chimpanzee that was more like a father figure than her dad. He looked at her telling her to leave him and Vanya alone. So she stood up and walked past them and gave Vanya's shoulder a quick squeeze before leaving them and heading off to her room, where she wanted to go in the first place.

She laid on her bed listening to some of her siblings talking in the office. Probably Luther telling Klaus to give stuff back. Allison was there too, but she couldn't figure out what she was talking about.   
A knock on the door got her out of her thoughts.   
"Hey." Diego stood there with his arms crossed leaning against the doorframe.   
"Hey." She said in return.   
"So how are you doing?" Diego asked while sitting down next to Zariah's lying form. She raised her legs so he could sit against the wall and put them back down on Diego's lap. It was something they did often as children.   
"I'm fine."   
"Then why is it that I don't believe you?"  
"Im just tired, alright. Luther has been annoying me since yesterday and Allison is acting like she is the best sister ever. It just gets on my nerves."  
"Well, I can't change anything about that. Did you take your medicine?"  
"You sound like mom." Zariah sighed.  
"Zar, you know that you need them." Diego leaned forward and grabbed the bottle from the nightstand.   
"Yes, I know." She took one of the pills and popped them in to her mouth. It was like all her emotions that had gotten to her that day seemed to fade away as she relaxed into the bed.   
"How much I want to let you sleep right now." Diego said as he pushed her legs off of him. "Luther wants a family meeting."   
"Of course he does." Zariah grumbled. She allowed Diego to pull her up and followed him back to the living room. 

"I guess we should get this started than." Luther began as Zariah took a seat next to Vanya. He may be build like a massive building, but he looked so small. "I figured we could have some sort of a memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at dad's favorite spot."  
"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison asked confused.  
"You, know, under the oak tree." Luther said as if all of them knew about it. He looked at Zariah to see if she knew, but she just shook her head. Their father hadn't taken her there even though she was the only one still living at home. She was just a to big of a disappointment, she guessed. "I used to sit out there with him all the time. none of you ever did that?"  
"No, we're not like you, number one." Zariah scoffed. Luther shot her a warning glare, but she couldn't get herself to care.  
"Will there be refreshments?" Klaus asked before Luther could start an a fight with his sister. "Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner." Zariah rolled her eyes, but a small smile betrayed her. Sure, she didn't really feel happy, but she had really missed his quirkiness in the house.  
"What? No. Put that out. Dad didn't allow smoking in here." Zariah zoned out after that. She really didn't care about how they would have the memorial for their old man.

"Zariah?" Luther's voice calling for her brought her out of her thoughts.  
"Hm? What?" She looked up at Luther. She could see Diego starting to get frustrated in the corner of her eye, so it probably meant that Luther had said some shit again.  
"I asked if dad was acting strange to you. Were you even listening?"  
"No, he was acting his normal shitty self actually." She chose to ignore the last question. Her fingers started playing with a rogue lock of her long brown hair.  
"Something must have happened. Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to dad." Luther turned to Klaus.   
"I can't just call dad in the after life and be like, 'dad, could you just... stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?'" Zariah did her best to try to not laugh, but a few giggles escaped her. She could immagine her father doing something with Hitler and other big a-holes from the past.  
"Since when? That's your thing."   
"I'm not in the right... frame of mind."   
"You're high?" Allison chimed in.  
"Yeah! Yeah. I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?" Klaus laughed. Zariah looked at him and nodded in agreement. She wasn't high, but she wanted to be. It would make everything at least a little more interesting. If she just could skip on those damn medicine...  
"Then there's the issue of the missing monocle." Luther ignored Klaus.   
"Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" Diego asked growing frustrated by him.  
"Exactly! It is worthless. So who ever took it must have had a grudge against him."   
"So what? It's a monocle. He could've just lost it."  
"He thinks one of us killed dad." Diego realized.   
"You do!" Klaus exclaimed.  
"Who would've done it? I was home all the time. None of you ever visited. Vanya is the only one I actually talked to besides bailing out and giving money." Her siblings looked down in shame. Luther looked at her after a few seconds with some sort of an acusing glare. "You think I did it?" She asked with wide eyes. She looked him right in the eyes to see any hint of hesitation, but there was non. He was really accusing her of their father's murder.  
"You do." Klause realized too.  
"Great job, Luther. Way to lead." Diego said before leaving.  
"That's not what I'm saying."  
"You're crazy, man. You're crazy." Klause scoffed while getting up.   
"I'm not finished." Luther growled as Zariah stood up to go back to her room. She was so done with the whole family thing right now.  
"And I don't care." She shot back before she was out of sight.

Zariah went to her room. She was laying on her bed listening to Luther's favourite song: _I think we're alone now_. She moved her leg on the beat with closed eyes. She could hear all the movement Luther and Allison made in their room, meaning that they were dancing on the music, but she didn't feel like standing up to dance, so she just sang a little bit allong with it.

Her eyes shot wide open when there was strange blue light coming from outside. Not knowing what it was, she sprinted down stairs. Her siblings were already there and Vanya looked at her to see if she was oké. She gave a quick nod before following Diego and Luther outside.   
"What is it?" Vanya asked.  
"Don't get to close." Allison warned her.  
"Yeah, no shit." Diego shot back. Zariah shot him an annoyed glare before looking back at the blue light.   
"Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly. Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two." Luther guessed.  
"Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan!" Diego commented.  
"Out of the way!" Klaus stormed past Zariah before trying to fight it with the fire extinguisher.  
"Very helpful, Klaus." Zariah said sarcastically.   
"Do you have a better idea?" He shot back.  
"Everyone get behind me." Luther ordered as the blue light became bigger and more dangerous.  
"Yeah, get behind us." Zariah was getting really frustrated by Diego's constant need to be better than Luther.  
"I vote running, come on." Klaus grabbed Zariah's hand, but she stayed. An old man was now visible. The old man turned into a younger man and the younger man turned into a little boy.   
"Five?" Zariah asked quietly to no one in particular.  
"Does anyone else see little number five, or is that just me?" Klaus asked. The small boy looked down at his body after standing up.  
"Shit." He mumbled.  
"Five?" Zariah asked him.  
"Hi." He said a little bit awkwardly. 

"What's the date? The exact date." Five sighed while grabbing some bread.  
"The 24th." Vanya responded.  
"Of what?"  
"March, 2019." Zariah added. She was standing next to Allison.  
"Good." She glanced at him before turning away when he looked me in the eyes.   
"So, are we gonna talk about what happened?" Luther asked the boy. Five didn't answer though. "It's been 17 years."  
"It's been a lot longer than that." Five spacial jumped through Luther to get the peanut butter.  
"I haven't missed that." Luther growled.   
"Where'd you go?" Diego asked like he didn't actually care. Zariah followed every move as he was making himself a sandwich.   
"The future. It's shit, by the way."   
"Called it!" Klaus exclaimed happily. He held out his hand to Zariah, who put ten dollars in it. They had a bet on where he had gone and if it was good or not. She had said the past and that he was in some happy home in the early 1900's, while Klaus said the horrible future. They had made that bet when he had just disappeared and Klaus always reminded her, even though she started to believe that number Five was dead.  
"I should've listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing. Jumping through time is a toss of a dice."  
"Why did you leave in the first place." Zariah said to herself, not noticing that she had said that out loud.   
"I-" Five started. "I don't know. I wanted to get away, you know. Jump a year and prove that man wrong." Zariah looked up at him. She may not know about any details about their training, but she knew as well as any other that their dad was a horrible man and an even worse father.  
"Guess that didn't go so well."  
"But how did you get back?" Vanya asked.   
"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time." Zariah looked around at her other siblings. No one but her understood what he meant. It was pretty obvious to her. Her father had made her learn all about this kind of stuff after Five had left.   
"That makes no sense." Diego stated confused.  
"Well it would if you were smarter." Zariah snorted at Five's comment, to which she earned a glare from Diego.   
"How long were you there?" Luther asked calmly.  
"Forty-five years. Give or take."   
"Damn, Five. You're old." Zariah looked at the 58 year old.  
"You're 58?" Luther asked him.  
"No, my consciousness is 58. Apparently, my body is now 13 again." Five said while finishing his peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich.   
"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya was beyond confused.  
"Delores kept saying the equations were off. Bet she's laughing now." Zariah lost interest after that. She already knew most of the stuff after those years studying and her siblings dumb questions were just tiring. She stood up and straight out left. She didn't actually care. She never cared since she got the medication.   
"What's up with her?" She heard Five ask.  
"Nothing. Just let her be." Diego's answer rang before she was out of range to hear anything. She instead headed back to her bedroom, where she seemed to have spend most of her time the past three days. It was the only place she knew she could be alone. 

Zariah was sitting on the brown chair in the corner of her room with a book in her hands. There was a soft knock on the door.  
"Are you ready for the memorial, miss Zariah?" Pogo asked her. She nodded and followed him out of the house. She held her black umbrella above her head.   
"Did something happen?" Their mother asked them.  
"Dad died. Remember?" Allison looked at her confused.  
"Oh. Yes, of course."  
"Is mom okay?" Allison asked the rest of them. Diego wanted to speak , but Zariah was faster.  
"She's fine. Give her some time." She took her mother's hand in her own. Her mother smiled at her, but she couldn't find any energy to smile back. The events from that day had just tired her already tired mind even more.  
"Whenever you're ready, dear boy." Pogo told Luther. Luther opened the urn and pored the ash on to the ground. Unfortunately it landed in a small pile.  
"Probably would have been better with some wind." He said sheepishly.   
"Does anyone with to speak?" Pogo asked them. It remained strangely silent. "Very well. In all regards, sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy-"  
"He was a monster." Diego growled. Zariah rolled her eyes. Diego knew how to ruin a moment. She heard Klaus laughing and saw Luther's body tense up. "He was a bad person and a worse father." Zariah couldn't disagree with that, but she tried to stop him from saying something else, he dismissed her though. "The world's better off without him."   
"Diego." Allison tried to stop him.  
"My name is Number Two. You know why? Because out father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had mom do it." Zariah didn't really feel like this argument so she walked over to one of the benches and sat down. She folded the umbrella and let the rain fall down on her body. She wasn't wearing anything warm, but she didn't actually care. The water felt refreshing against her skin.  
"Would anyone like something to eat?" Their mother asked at the mention of her name.  
"No. It's okay, mom." Vanya answered her.  
"Oh, okay."  
"Look, you wanna pay your respects?" Diego continued. "Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was." Zariah wasn't even so sure if her father was a human being at all. He could've been an alien or robot for as far she knew.  
"You should stop talking now." Luther interjected.  
"You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One."   
"I am warning you." Zariah's mind wondered off. She remembered Luther leaving, but she had never really understood why her father would send him to the moon. She knew her father just hid the samples Luther had send from the moon, but she didn't dare tell Luther though. She didn't see who started it, but Diego and Luther were already throwing punches at each other. Zariah had to admit that she had expected for it to happen later on, but she wasn't really surprised that it happened now.   
"Boys, stop this at once!" Pogo tried, but to no avail. Klaus tried to protect Five, but the old man just slapped Klaus' hand away. While Vanya was trying to get them to stop, Klaus was encouraging them. She didn't know who he was cheering for though, but her guesses went for Diego. Five left at some point during the fight, which she found understandable. A loud crash pulled her back to reality. Ben's statue was laying on the ground, decapitated.  
"And there goes Ben's statue." Allison said with no sounds of surprise in her voice.   
"Diego, no!" Vanya tried to stop Diego, but Diego had already thrown one of his knives at Luther. It didn't leave a big wound though and he would be fine, so Zariah shrugged it off.  
"You never know when to stop, do you?" Vanya asked Diego.  
"You got enough material for your sequel yet?" He shot back.  
"He was my father, too." She walked away after that.   
"You really do put the 'fun' in funeral, don't you." Zariah told him without any hint of emotion.  
"Shut up, Zariah." He growled before walking over to their mother. "Mom. Let's go inside. Come on, okay? Come on." Diego took their mother's arm and lead her away. Klaus stood up and walked to the pile of ash. He threw his cigar in it before heading inside, leaving Zariah alone in the cold rain. She didn't move. She sat there remembering all the things her father had done.

_Flash back_

Vanya and Zariah stood at the top of the stairs with their father while the others were standing at the bottom.   
"Nietzsche once said, 'Man is as a rope stretched between animal and the superhuman. A rope over an abyss. It is a dangerous crossing, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting.'" Vanya blew on the whistle and the six siblings began running up the stairs. Luther was in first place with Diego right behind him. Diego passed him rather quickly.  
"That's not fair, Five's cheating!" Diego complained when Five space jumped to first place.   
"He adapted." Was their father's response. Zariah and Vanya looked down at their siblings. Both wishing to be one of them and both knowing they could never be.

There was a tattoo artist for the six super powered siblings. All six of them got a tattoo. Vanya and Zariah stood on the stairs watching. Vanya held a black marker in her hand and drew one of the umbrella's on her own arm.   
"Can you make me one too?" Zariah asked softly. Vanya nodded and drew the most beautiful umbrella she could. Zariah looked up at Vanya with a big smile.  
"Thanks." She said while giving her sister a quick hug.

_End flash back_

Zariah had at some point noticed Vanya leaving, because of the taxi had signaled that he was there. She could smell her mother's cookies from where she was still sitting in the rain. She also heard Diego and Klaus talking before a car started, which meant that they had also left. It was already late and she didn't know how long she had been there. Five had also gone somewhere, but she didn't know where. Which meant that Luther and Allison were the only of her siblings still at home. Her mother was probably recharging and Pogo was doing god knows what in his separate section of the house. She was still looking at the pile of ash in the middle of the garden. She wished she could feel pain for his death, but she didn't. She wasn't able to feel grieve for the man that had raised her into the woman she had become.  
"Zariah?" She looked up at the place where she heard the voice coming from. Allison was standing next to her with a thick coat in her hands. She wrapped it quickly around her sister's shoulders.   
"Have you been here the entire time? I thought you went inside." She admitted. Zariah just shrugged in response. "Jesus, Zar. You're soaking wet and cold." Zariah shrugged again. Allison sat down next to her, knowing that she probably wouldn't move any time soon. "How are you?" She asked with genuine concern.   
"Why would you care? It's not like anyone cared before and neither do I for that matter."   
"I'm so sorry, Zar. I should've called."   
"I never even met Claire, you know. I wanted to meet her, but when that shit with you and Patrick went down-"   
"I know." Allison stopped her sister from talking. She looked to her left and saw Zariah shaking from the cold and clinging to the coat as if it was the only thing keeping her alive. "Let's get you inside." She stood up and supported Zariah the whole way back. Her light brown hair was sticking to her face, but she didn't care. It felt strange to have Allison here with her. But she didn't complain. Allison guided her to her room upstairs.  
"Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning." She said softly before leaving the room and closing the door. Zariah was still wrapped in her sister's thick coat.  
"Claire should be proud with you as a mom." Zariah whispered to herself. 


	3. Chapter 2: Run boy run

"Good morning." Allison walked into Zariah's room. She was still laying in her bed with the covers drawn over her face. Allison opened the curtains and the window, letting the fresh air fill the room. Zariah grumbled under the covers which made Allison laugh. She ripped the covers from Zariah and sat down next to her. Allison looked down and chuckled as she noticed that her sister was still wearing the coat from the day before.  
"Please. Just one more hour." Zariah pleaded.  
"No way. Everyone is already awake. Even Klaus. Besides, mom already made you breakfast. You don't want to let the food get cold." Allison pulled Zariah quickly to her feet.   
"I'm already cold, so why does cold food matter." She complained. Allison went to wait in the hall so she could change. She left her room a little while later wearing black jeans and a blue blouse.   
"Cute." Allison commented before walking to the kitchen.  
"Where did everyone run of to yesterday?" Zariah asked with honest curiosity.   
"Klaus went with Diego to I don't know were, Vanya went home and Five wanted coffee. You should go eat breakfast. I need to talk with Luther." Allison said before parting ways. Zariah gave a quick wave before walking towards the kitchen. She took a quick glans into the living room. Klaus was standing behind the sofa in only some underwear or something. It wasn't the first time she had seen him like that, but it never got old. He was talking to Pogo. She stopped in the doorway to listen in.  
"In particular, an ornate box with pearl inlay." Pogo said. Klaus had probably stolen something valuable.   
"Really? You don't say." Klaus asked while looking at the sofa in front of him. Maybe it was because there was some kind of ghost, but she didn't know and didn't really care. Klaus had told her many times that he couldn't see Ben, so what was the point in wondering who it was.   
"Any idea where it went?" Pogo asked him.  
"No, no, no. No idea." Klaus sighed. "Sorry." It was silent for a second. "Drop dead." Another second of silence. "Shut up." That's when Zariah resumed her way to the kitchen again. She had no desire in seeing Klaus lie to Pogo any more.

"Hey mom." She greeted her mother quietly. Her mother, who had previously been humming a song, turned around with a plate filled with two eggs and some bacon laid in a smiley face.  
"Good morning, sweetheart. How was your morning?" She asked her.  
"Great. Allison woke me up." She answered sarcastically.  
"That's good sweetie. It's nice to see you two bonding again." She obviously hadn't understood her sarcastic tone to it, but Zariah didn't care. It made her mother happy so she was some sort of happy.  
"Is Five home again?"   
"No. I'm sorry, but he hasn't come back since yesterday. Did you take your medicine?" Zariah shook her head.  
"No, I left it in here yesterday."   
" Zariah Hargreeves. How many times do I have to tell you to not let your medicine all over the house. You should have it with you at all times."   
"Sorry mom." She apologized while taking one of her pills.  
"What are you planning on doing today?"   
"I- I don't know." She hadn't really thought of that yet. With her father being gone, there were no restrictions.  
"Why don't you take a walk in the park? You haven't proparly been out of the house for months, years maybe. When was the last time you met a stranger?"  
"You know dad didn't allow me to set a step outside of this house."  
"He isn't here, is he?" Her mom winked at her.   
"You know what? Yeah, I'll go to the park. Do you want to come with me?"   
"Maybe tomorrow. I still have so much to do. Speaking of which, I need to clean the bedrooms. Have fun today." Her mother leaned over the table and gave Zariah a quick kiss on the head.   
"Bye." She quickly ate her breakfast before grabbing her grey coat and walking out. She walked mindlessly down the road. The fact was that she didn't even know where the park was. She needed to follow her guts and hope to get home at some point. 

She reached the park after 20 minutes, finding it at a five minute distance from her house, but she kept on going the wrong way, making her walk 4 times the length that she should've walked. She looked at the trees and the birds. Their songs sounded more beautiful than she had ever heard them sing. She also looked at the dogs that played together and some kids that were laughing. She stayed there for a few hours, until she finally grew hungry. She took one last look before walking away and trying to find her way home again.  
"Are you lost?" A young man asked her. She looked at him sheepishly.  
"No. I just- need to find somewhere familiar."   
"So you're lost?" Zariah sighed and nodded her head in defeat.  
"Yeah, fine. I'm lost." The man with half long, brown hair chuckled.   
"Where does the beautiful woman need to go?" Zariah blushed at his compliment.  
"The umbrella academy."  
"A fan?"  
"O god, no. Everything but. No, I kind of live there."   
"You are one of the six?"   
"No, I'm actually number eight."  
"O, sorry. I didn't know that." He rubbed the back of her neck in shame.  
"No, it doesn't matter." Zariah quickly said.   
"How about I walk you home?"   
"That would be nice."   
"It's my pleasure, miss-" He left the sentence unfinished for her to end it.  
"Zariah. Zariah Hargreeves."  
"Jake Williams." He introduced himself. "I know a place where they sell the best ice cream in the world. Why don't we go there first before you go back." He had gone really fast from being strangers to taking her for ice-cream, but she didn't mind.  
"That would be nice." Zariah looked him in the eyes one last time before walking in a general direction.   
"It's the other way." Zariah turned around on her heals with a small awkward smile.  
"I totally knew that." She joked before they walked away together.

"All those flavors!" Zariah exclaimed with shock in her voice.   
"Have you never been here before?" Jake looked at her in a weird way.  
"I haven't left the house in a few months, a year maybe. I don't know. I lost count. I only went out to get my brother out of jail." Zariah admitted.  
"Well, then you have to try the cookie dough and the triple chocolate. Those are the best two out of them."   
"Alright, I want to see how good it actually is." Zariah crossed her arms and smirked at him. He walked over to the front to get their ice cream. She really regretted taking her medication that morning. She wouldn't have to pretend so much. She really did feel something, but she wanted to know how it felt without the stuff that felt like poison to her. Would she really be happy in this moment? Or would she be freaking out, be sad, be angry? She didn't know.   
"Here's your order, ma'am." He held her ice cream in front of her.   
"Thanks. And don't call me that! It makes me feel old." She joked. He hooked her arm in his and guided her away. She didn't remove her arm. It felt kind of right.   
"Would you like to get breakfast with me tomorrow?" Zariah stayed silent for a moment. "You don't have to if it's to soon or if you don't want to or-" He rambled.   
"No, no. I'd like to. I want to." She said quickly, trying to calm him down.  
"That's great! At 10? I know this place where they have the BEST pancakes ever."  
"I don't know if anyone can make better pancakes than my mother, but now I'm curious. But if they don't have pancakes with bacon it's a no go." Zariah joked. "10 sounds good. Do you pick me up or do you want to meet there?"  
"I can pick you up. We can walk there together. It's not far from your house." Jake said as they turned the corner in to the street where the academy was.   
"It's a date." Zariah smiled at him. They were now standing in front of her house. "I should head in. I think mom's wondering where I've been."   
"Yeah. I should head home too. I got still some work left to finish. I've just moved into the house and it needed a new layer of paint on some places. I see you tomorrow." He gave her a kiss on her cheek before walking off in the direction they just came from. She headed inside the big mansion. It was completely empty. Her mother was probably in the kitchen and Pogo was god knows where, so she headed to her room. She heard talking once she got in the corridor which led to all of their rooms. The voices came from Five's room.  
"Then maybe I'm not the right person for you to be talking to." She heard Vanya. She decided to wait in the corridor and not interrupt. "Look, I used to see someone. A therapist. I could give you her information." Vanya continued. This actually sparked Zariah's interest. There had to be something wrong with Five if she suggested a therapist.   
"Thanks, but I think I'm just gonna get some rest. It's been a long time since I've had a good sleep." Five declined the offer. Zariah hadn't heard him talk like this in over 17 years. She knew that Five loved his siblings deep down somewhere, but he only used that voice on Vanya and some times on her, but that wasn't often.   
"Okay." Vanya sighed. Zariah heard Vanya leave and stood up straight, waiting for her sister.   
"Hey, Van. Everything alright?" She asked as Vanya almost passed her.  
"Yeah. Five's just Five." She answered. "Where have you been?"  
"The park. Did you know how beautiful the birds sing over there? It's so much better than the one that comes here every summer."  
"You really haven't been out of the house much." Vanya laughed at her sister's innocence.  
"Hey, I did bail Diego out now and then."  
"Going to the police station once a month isn't really getting out of the house." Vanya laughed.  
"True, but it's not like it was entirely my choice. Dad didn't let me, remember?"   
"Yeah, I know. I wished I could've done something about that."  
"It's not your fault." Zariah quickly told her. She really didn't want to upset Vanya. "And I met this guy." She changed the subject.  
"Really? What's his name?"  
"Jake. He takes me for breakfast tomorrow." Zariah smiled a little.  
"Are you going to take your medication? I know how that can make you feel emotionless."   
"I'm thinking about skipping it, but I don't know if I can get past mom, Diego, Allison AND Klaus. Well, I might get past Klaus if I offer it to him." She laughed at her own joke. She saw Vanya smile at her.  
"I should head home. You will call me if you need me, right?" Vanya asked her.  
"Yes, mom." Zariah chuckled.  
"Don't make me ground you, young lady." Vanya joked while pointing her finger in Zariah's direction, but a smile was plastered on her face.  
"Yeah, yeah. See you later." She muttered while giving Vanya a quick hug.   
"See you later." Vanya responded before walking away.  
"That was so cute!" Klaus exclaimed from his place in the doorway from Five's room. Five spacial jumped past Klaus.  
"Shut up." Zariah rolled her eyes. "Where are you going? I thought you were going to sleep?" She directed the last question at Five.   
"We need to do something that doesn't concern you." Five answered harshly, before walking away with Klaus right behind him.  
"Yeah, it's nice to have you back, Five." Zariah told to no one in particular. She sighed before making her way to her room. She sat down in front of her mirror. Her long light brown hair was a mess. She quickly brushed her hair and put it in a messy bun, before picking up her book and laying on her bed.

She had been reading for what felt like a few minutes when she heard Pogo walk into the room.   
"Miss Zariah, I seek your help with something."   
"What is it, Pogo?" Zariah asked him as she sat up straight in her bed.  
"Miss Vanya called to check up on miss Allison. She said that something seemed wrong. I thought you might want to take her and watch your father's recordings together."  
"I don't know, Pogo. Why would she want to see me?"   
"Please, miss Zariah. I believe that it will help. Both of you." Zariah sighed before standing up. She walked past Pogo, who gave her a small smile. "You will find her in the attic." He added quickly.

She looked at her sister from her position in the doorway.  
"Smoking? Really, I thought you were above that." Zariah startled Allison. She put on a fake smile and walked over to her sister who quickly threw the cigarette away.   
"How did you know I was up here?" She questioned.  
"Pogo told me."  
"Why are you up here?" She looked a little confused, but had sadness in her eyes. "Not that I don't want you to be here or anything." She added.  
"Pogo told me that Vanya called about you being upset. Thought we could do something together."  
"Yeah, I, um, said some pretty unkind things to her."  
"She's your sister, Al. She knows you didn't really mean it." Zariah tried to comfort, but she actually didn't know if Vanya knew it.   
"Doubt it. She doesn't know anything about me, neither of you do, which is fine since I don't know shit about you either."  
"It's been some time, Al. We haven't seen each other for a long time."  
"How did you do it? Alone in this house with Dad, Mom and Pogo. Didn't you want to leave? Didn't it drive you insane?"  
"Dad told me I couldn't leave, since I'm sick. Never questioned it. You get used to it eventually. Come with me. I want to show you something." Zariah took a hold of Allison's hand and pulled her along.  
"Where are we going?"   
"You'll see."

Pogo was already waiting in the room.   
"Your father stopped recording years ago, but I still come here from time to time. When I'm missing you kids." Pogo told Allison while playing a recording on one of the screens.  
"Pogo, this is..."  
"Scary?" Zariah tried to fill in the silence, which made Allison laugh.  
"No." Allison chuckled. "Most families have home movies to look back on. We have surveillance footage."  
"I hoped it might cheer you up."  
"It does." Allison laughed softly at the scene playing on the screen.  
"Look how little we were!" She looked at Zariah, who looked a little down. "What's wrong?"  
"I always stayed away from this room. I don't know why, but..."  
"Because it shows how we excluded you and Vanya in everything." Allison began to understand why Zariah never came in there.  
"It's stupid. Never mind. I'm going to my room." She turned around. She didn't stop when she heard Allison call after her.  
"Let her be. She needs time." She heard Pogo before they were out of range. She didn't go up to her room however. She went to sit next to her mother who was recharging. She didn't talk, she didn't smile. She just sat there and stare at the paintings on the wall with her head resting on her mother's shoulder.


	4. Chapter 3: Extra Ordinary

She didn't know when her mother had left, but she woke up the next day laying on the couch with a thin, pink blanket wrapped around her. She checked her watch and saw that it was already 9.30 am.   
"Shit." She said while standing up. She almost fell to the ground, but knew to regain her balance just in time. She ran to her room and put on her red dress with long sleeves and some white shoes. She brushed her hair and grabbed her wallet before storming out of the room when the bell rang.   
"I'm looking for Zariah. We planned to have breakfast together." She already heard Jake's voice.  
"I think I already hear her." She heard her mother tell the man.   
"I'm here!" She called as she came running down the stairs.  
"You look... great." He looked wide eyed at her. She gave a shy smile in return.  
"Behave." Her mother told her after giving her a small kiss on the cheek.  
"Mom!" Zariah exclaimed while Jake chuckled.  
"I'll keep her save, ma'am. Don't worry." Zariah chuckled at his gentle man like behavior.  
"Please, call me Grace. Ma'am makes me feel so old." She answered with a smile. "Now get going, before I will kick you out myself."   
"Bye, mom. Love you." Zariah called out before the door closed behind her.   
"So, pancakes?" Jake said with a small grin on his face.  
"Yes! I still don't believe that there are better pancakes than my mom's, but if you swear by it." Jake wrapped his arm around Zariah's hip and leaded her down the street. The rest of the walk was in a comfortable silence. Neither of them knew what to say, but they liked it.

"One with bacon and one plain, please." Jake ordered as a waiter came to their table. "What do you want to drink?"  
"Tea."  
"One tea for the lady and a cappuccino for me." The waiter nodded and walked away.  
"You remembered?"  
"How can I not remember when someone as pretty as you wants bacon on her pancakes." Zariah blushed. "Did I just make you blush?" Jake grinned at her.  
"I- I don't know how you do it. I haven't blushed in a long time before I met you."  
"It's because you like me." Jake grinned as he teased.  
"Well, I'm beginning to reconsider that now." She joked back. It felt weird having a genuine smile on her face. They talked about many things after that. From their past to which movies they liked. Zariah told about her time as number 8 and Jake told her about how he grew up with his mother and where he lived now.   
"We should be going. I got a freelance gig in an hour." Jake said while looking at his watch.  
"Yeah, mom is probably worried that you kidnapped me or something." Zariah chuckled. She watched as he stood up and held out his hand for her to take. He payed for their breakfast, although she protested.

They walked hand to hand back to the house, again in comfortable silence.  
"We should do this again." Jake said while facing Zariah.  
"We definitely should." She confirmed.   
"Can I-" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Kiss you?" He finished with a shy smile. Instead of answering she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. He stood there with wide eyes while she grinned. She took out a small paper she had tucked away in her wallet.   
"This is our phone number." She explained.  
"You know where I live. Feel free to come by when you're in the neighborhood." He kissed her one more time before walking away. She looked after him until he was gone in the crowd. She was about to turn around and open the door when she heard someone call her name.   
"Zariah! I've been looking all over for you!" She turned around to see Allison and Vanya standing in front of her. Vanya had the same confused look on her face as she had.  
"Why?"   
"It's about mom."   
"What's wrong with mom?" Zariah started to panic.  
"I'll show you when the rest is here." She reassured while walking through the door and taking her two sisters with her.  
"Where is she?" Zariah questioned as she headed up the stairs while Allison tried to get them into the living room.  
"I don't know. Probably cleaning our rooms." Allison gave up on getting Zariah with her and just took Vanya. Zariah took a sprint to the bedrooms and saw her mother walking from Klaus' to Ben's room.   
"Mom!" Zariah got her mother's attention. A bright smile was send her way.  
"How was breakfast, love? Has he been nice to you?"  
"He was amazing, but how are you? Allison said something was wrong." Zariah hurried over and took her mother's hands and inspected every bit of her body.  
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm doing great." She placed one of her hands on Zariah's cheek and looked her straight in the eyes. "There is nothing to worry about. Now, have you taken your medicine? You seem a little on edge." Zariah held up one hand, knowing that her mother always carried a bottle of her pills. A small pill landed on her hand and she put it in her mouth. The feelings she felt from that morning were already leaving her and the worry in her eyes seemed to dim, but there was something different. This one seemed to have a stronger effect on her than it normally had.  
"Thanks." She mumbled.   
"Now, go to your siblings. I think they have a meeting in the living room and I got to clean Ben's room." Her mother shooed her away. Zariah glanced into the empty room, she could still see him sitting on the bed, reading a book, in her mind. It was because of him that she had started reading as much as she did. She walked away after a few seconds, leaving her mother behind. Something felt really wrong though. She zoned out after a few steps and she didn't know how she ended up in the living room, but she didn't care. All of her siblings were already there and something was playing on the screen in front of them. She couldn't focus, everything seemed hazy. She somehow managed to sit down on the couch.  
"You really think mom would hurt dad?" She heard Vanya say, but it sounded for in the distance or like she was under water.   
"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya." Came the response. "Maybe you don't know Grace anymore."   
"If he was poisoned, it would have shown in the coroner's report." Diego defended. Zariah didn't really know what they were talking about. She closed her eyes, at least she thought, and just tried to focus on what she could hear, since watching didn't get her anywhere.   
"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Luther sounded like he was getting more aggressive.   
"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision." Diego shot back. "Look closer. Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone."  
"Oh, yeah!" She heard Klaus chuckle. A monocle. It sounded so familiar. She had one in her hands once.   
"She wasn't poisoning him. She was..."  
"Wait." Luther cut him off. "What's that?" Luther pointed at the screen. They had apparently never played it any further than his actual death, so Luther pressed play.

_Zariah opened the door to her father's room, she seemed dazed. Their mother turned around to face her with a small smile. There was no audio with the recording, so they didn't know what their mother said, but they could see her handing Zariah the monocle. Zariah didn't react. She was just staring and didn't say anything. It wasn't until her mother gently led her out of the room that she started to move._

"What the hell." Luther muttered while they all turned to look at Zariah. The girl in question was looking ahead of her, but her eyes weren't focused.   
"Zar? What were you doing?" Klaus asked her. He had become serious in an instant since it was about his sister now. Zariah didn't hear them though.   
"Zariah?" Diego asked while kneeling in front of her. He placed his right hand on her knee, but there came no reaction.  
"What's wrong with her?" Luther asked irritated.   
"Zariah? Do you hear me?" Vanya knelt down next to Diego. No reaction came to her question.  
"She's acting just like in the recording. Dazed and deaf. Like a robot or like she's sleepwalking." Allison commented.   
"Can we wake her or something? We need to know what happened." Luther urged.  
"Can you just- That's our sister for god's sake and something's wrong!" Diego snapped while looking up at Luther. He stood up and pulled Zariah up with him.  
"We're not done." Luther exclaimed.  
"Don't worry. I'll be right back. I'm just bringing Zariah to her room."   
"I'll come with you." Vanya stood up and walked over to the other side of Zariah. Diego, for once, didn't argue. They led her away and into the hallway. 

"Do you want to lay down?" Vanya tried to ask Zariah, but she didn't get an answer. She lowered her onto the bed while Diego closed the curtains.   
"What are we going to do?" Diego asked Vanya while covering her with her blanket.  
"I don't know. We just got to let her sleep, I think. There's not much for us to do." She looked back at her sister who was laying on the bed with her eyes open. "How about the monocle? She must still have it."  
"Let's get back downstairs." Diego dismissed her. They walked into the living room a little later to a few concerned faces and one frustrated face.   
"How is she?" Klaus immediately asked, his glass of liquor was near his face, but he didn't drink it.   
"I don't know. She's in bed right now." Diego answered before Vanya could.  
"What about the monocle? I searched the house, including all her and mom's things. She doesn't have it." Luther sounded confused.  
"That's because I took it from her." Diego admitted after a few seconds of silence. "After the funeral."  
"You've had the monocle this whole time? What the hell, Diego?" Allison was getting pissed.  
"Give it to me." Luther said while he stretched his arm out towards Diego.   
"I threw it away."  
"You what?"  
"Look I knew that if you found it on Zariah, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing right now. I couldn't risk her getting attacked by you."  
"Diego, you son of a bitch."   
"Hey. No. Calm down." Vanya came between both of them. "Look, I know dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but also a protector."  
"What does that mean?" Allison questioned.  
"She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy."  
"Well, if her hardware is degrading, than we need to turn her off. And if Zariah had something to do with it. We might want to lock her up. I don't trust her." Luther stated.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait." Diego interjected. "Mom's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet and Zar's not getting locked up anywhere. They feel things, I've even seen it with mom!"  
"They just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die."   
"I'm with Luther." Allison joined the discussion.  
"Surprise, surprise." Diego turned around to face her.  
"Shut up." Allison growled. They all turned to look at Vanya.  
"I- I don't-"  
"Yeah, she doesn't get a vote." Diego said harshly.   
"I was gonna say that I agree with you. You weren't the only one up there for Zariah and god knows I've been a better sibling to her than you." Vanya shot at him.  
"Okay. She should get a vote. What about you, stoner boy? What do you got?"  
"Oh, so, what? You need my help now? Oh, 'Get out of the van, Klaus!' 'Well, welcome back to the van.'" He answered.  
"What van?" Allison asked with confusion written all over her face.  
"What's it gonna be, Klaus?" Luther scoffed.   
"I'm with Diego, because screw you! And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me."  
"No, I don't, at least not the mom part." Ben told him from where he was standing next to the only person that could see him. Klaus hissed at him while his siblings just looked at him.  
"So that's three." Diego stated.  
"Wait."  
"To two."  
"Vote's not final yet." Allison argued.  
"What?"  
"Five's not here. The whole family has to vote. We owe each other that."  
"Zariah belongs to the family too." Diego shot back.  
"We should wait." Vanya said, but everyone just left. Diego turned around and saw mom.  
"Hey. How long have you been here?" Diego asked their mother, who looked a sad.  
"You all seem upset. I'll make cookies." She answered with a bright smile before turning around and walking away.   
"Do you ever wonder-" Vanya began as she got Diego's attention. "All those moments with mom, the things she said. Like, was it her, or was it really dad?"  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Well, he built her. And he programmed her to be a mom, to be our mom. Sometimes when I look at her, I just see him."  
"Maybe that was true at first. But she evolved." Vanya was about to ask more questions, but a noise from the stairs go their attention.   
"Zar?" She looked up at her sister, but didn't get any response.   
"Is she sleepwalking?" Diego asked with confusion and concern.  
"I don't know. We should bring her back to bed." Vanya started walking, but Diego held her back.  
"Let her walk. I don't know if she should be in the bed or not." Vanya nodded while Diego walked away to his own bedroom.

Zariah knew that her feet were moving, but she didn't know where she was going or where she was. All the sounds seemed to have drowned out of her head, which just left silence, until she got close enough to hear her mother's humming. She sat down next to her mother, which she presumed since only her mother hummed that song. She felt a hand comb through her hair, before it returned back to where it had previously been. The humming continued while she laid her head on her mother's shoulder. She could feel how her mother was working on something and she could see the colors in the haze she saw.   
"Mom, we need to talk." She heard a muffled voice, she couldn't quite figure out who it was, but she didn't really care. She just sat like a statue, looking forward, but at nothing in particular.   
"Okay, but only for a minute. I need to finish this cross-stitch. And I believe that Zariah is a little tired. I'm taking her to her room after."  
"Everything you did for us when we were kids, for me, why'd you do it?" She heard Diego. She didn't know where he was.  
"Because being your mother is the greatest gift of my life." Their mother answered while looking at Zariah and placing a small kiss in her hair.  
"Is that you saying that?"  
"I'm not sure what you mean, Diego."  
"I mean, our father, he made you." She heard Diego say before she zoned out again. She saw a black blur crouch down in front of her and she felt a hand on her knee. They black blur stayed in front of her for a while, until her mother stood up, which made her fall over and laying on the small couch. The black blur was shaking the white with pink one. They were talking to each other, but no words formed in her head anymore. The black blur walked away eventually and she felt hands on both of her shoulders pushing her back up. Her mother sat back next to her as she continued her cross-stitch and humming the song.

There were loud bangs and crashes in the house. Zariah was still sitting next to her mother, but decided to walk around. She didn't know where her feet were leading her and she didn't know, or care, what was happening in the house.   
"Zariah?! Get out of here!" She felt a strong hand on her shoulder, but didn't react until she was pulled away. She was picked up rather quickly and carried somewhere else. The arms that carried her placed her back on the ground while other arms, more gentle ones, wrapped around her.  
"Keep her save, Vanya." The arms wrapped a little tighter around her, but not tight enough to hurt. Zariah decided to walk around though and Vanya wasn't strong enough to keep her back. She heard a vague voice calling for her, but she ignored it. She walked into a hallway and down to where she thought the bedrooms were, suddenly feeling really tired. A blur with a blue head suddenly appeared. He was taking something with him. Zariah wanted to walk past him, but the thing wrapped an arm around her and she followed. It led her outside. He threw the thing he carried in the blur in front of her. She felt a hard blow to her head a few seconds later. 

She woke up some time later. It was still dark, but she didn't know if that was just her vision or that she was actually in a dark place. She could feel something or someone against her. She tried to feel around her but soon noticed that her hands were taped together and that there was also tape over her mouth. Footsteps were coming from outside the thing she was trapped in. The person next to her began to move too as soon as the door opened. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the sudden burst of light, but soon a small person, presumably a woman, with a pink dog's mask and a big person, probably a man, with a blue bear's mask came into few. She took a quick look at who was laying next to her. It was Klaus. He tried to scream, but it didn't matter anyway. They were trapped.


	5. Chapter 4: Man on the Moon

Zariah was tied up on a chair. Their kidnappers had left her alone, but Klaus wasn't so lucky. They had cut him, hit him and so much more, only to find out where Five was. She didn't know why they wanted to know it and she didn't care. They just had to stop hurting Klaus. That was the one goal she had, so she started screaming. The tape in her mouth hindered her from screaming really loud, but she did make the two weirdos with masks irritated.   
"Number Five, where is he?" The pink dog demanded to know.  
"Don't... Stop. I'm almost there." Klaus grunted.  
"Is that a-"  
"Yep." The blue dog confirmed. Zariah chuckled softly at her brother's antics. It was a typical Klaus thing to do.  
"Shut up." The pink dog hit her on the head, she kept chuckling though.   
"Ah, there's nothin' like a little stranglin' to get the blood flowin', am I right?" Klaus shot a quick glance at his sister to know if she was still alright. Zariah looked back at her brother, concern now growing in her. He was shaking and bloody. They had yet to lay a hand on her and she would have that rather than for them to continue on Klaus.  
"What is so funny, you asshole?" They blue bear got frustrated. He hit Klaus on the head before sitting back on what I presumed was his bed.  
"Well, for one..." I tried to beg Klaus to stop, but he just shot me a 'I got this' look. "you spent the last ten hours beating me senseless, and you've learned absolutely nothing. I mean, nobody tells me shit. The truth is, I'm the one person in that house nobody will even notice is gone." Zariah was shocked. He sure couldn't mean it. But she started thinking. He was always gone at random times and it was true that not many of her siblings would've noticed. She even doubted that someone would miss her. "You kidnapped the wrong guy!" Klaus laughed. The blue bear guy hit him one more time.  
"What about the girl?" The pink dog asked her partner.   
"We could give it a try."   
"No! No, no, no. How about you keep your attention on me, huh?" Klaus protested, but they chose to ignore him. The tape was ripped from Zariah's mouth and she gasped slightly at the sudden burst of air through her mouth. The bear guy stood in front of her and slapped her back hand in the face.  
"Where is number Five?" He asked already irritated with her.  
"I don't know! Why not ask him when you see him." I shot at him. My comment was rewarded with another hit in the face.  
"Stop it." Klaus chimed in. I shot him a 'shut up' look and he complied. I spit on the man's trousers. He made a sound that she could only interpret as one of disgust.  
"Hand me that." He gestured to something behind me. His partner handed it to him. Her eyes grew wide when she saw what the dog lady had given him. It was a cigarette lighter. He lit the flame with one hand and with the other hand he removed her right shoe. She tried to kick him, but her leg was tied to the chair. She let out a scream when the flame touched the side of her foot. The pink dog lady put a wet cloth, which they had used to water board Klaus, in her mouth to silence her. She was now longing for her medicine so she could stop feeling.   
"Where is the boy?" The dog lady asked as the bear man stopped for a few seconds. The cloth was removed from her mouth and she could now taste the tears she didn't know she had.   
"I- I don't know." She cried out. It was true. She didn't know anything about what happened the previous day. Only her date with Jake, but nothing after that.   
"Stop it!" Klaus tried, but they didn't. The lady pulled out a knife and traced it over Zariah's skin, leaving marks that started bleeding. One on her left shoulder, one on her right leg, one on her cheek and one on her eyebrow. She was happy with the red dress she was waring. It meant that Klaus couldn't see all the blood that covered her body.   
"Please, let us go. We're unimportant in this family. We know nothing." She begged her captors. The lighter was brought against her skin once more, burning a larger part. The whole outside of her foot was now burned. The lady signed her partner and they left to another room.  
"Are you okay?" Klaus looked at her with concern in his eyes. He had dropped his whole careless act as soon as they started hurting her.   
"I'm- I'm fine." She tried to keep her voice steady, but failed miserably. "How are you? They went at you for about ten hours!" She brought the subject to him again.  
"Nothing I can't handle." He assured. They just looked at each other until the two psychos came back in.   
"Maybe you're not hitting them hard enough." The man stated.  
"Me? You're the one with the stupid orthopedic bracelet." The woman shot back.   
"I told you already, it's just for support." Zariah looked at Klaus. He seemed to be getting worse.   
"I don't know, but it's driving me crazy." Klaus suddenly said. Zariah looked up at him confused. "The bitch won't shut up!" He complained.   
"Hey! Watch your mouth." The female yelled at him.  
"What did I say about eyes front?" The man added. The two talked to each other some more, but Zariah turned her attention to her brother.  
"Klaus? Talk to me." She tried to get his attention, but he stayed silent.  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." Klaus tried to stop the two when they grabbed his coat and Zariah's purse.  
"Let's see."  
"What are you doing? That's mine. That's personal stuff." He told the woman. I looked with big eyes as the man pulled out my bottle of pills and looked at it with a fake fascination.   
"What do we have here?" The woman pulled out a bag of Klaus' drugs. She handed it to her partner and he compared the two.  
"Hey, no, no, no, no. Be- Be careful with that." Klaus tried. "It's- It's my asthma medication."  
"I need those!" Zariah yelled at them. She really did and she wanted them right now.   
"Now we're getting somewhere." The bear sounded kind of relieved.   
"Hey! No, Hey! Whoa! No, hey, hold on! Hold on!" Klaus cried out when the man crushed both of their pills.  
"No, no, no, no, no, no." Zariah started to panic.   
"We can have a conversation. We're adults." Klaus tried again. The man just crushed more of them and Klaus began jumping up and down with his chair, frantically trying to get him to stop. "Listen, I can- I can get you cash. Amputee hookers, whatever. Hey, just, please, just listen. Just don't- No- Please."   
"Chocolate. Mm-mm-mm!" The man ate some of the weed filled chocolate that Klaus had kept in his coat.   
"Not until they're high as kites." Klaus said after a few seconds of silence to something or someone in front of a dresser. He closed his eyes and began breathing a little heavier.  
"Klaus. Calm down. Please." Zariah begged him.   
"This could be all yours," The woman taunted him. Zariah could only watch as they were bullying her brother. They had already crushed her pills, so there was nothing that she longed for anymore. "for the low, low price of telling us everything."  
"Okay, fine." Klaus seemed to comply.  
"Klaus, no!" He shot me a half apologizing look as he cried softly.   
"Okay, I don't- I don't know where Five is. I wasn't lying about that. But I can tell you that he's- hasn't been making much sense since he came back." Zariah nodded in agreement.   
"Elaborate."  
"He was acting like-" Zariah started, but couldn't find the right word.  
"A lunatic." Klaus finished. "He's been sitting in this van in front of a- a lab or something, and looking for the owner of an eyeball. One of those fake ones." Klaus sounded confused at his own story. She eyed Klaus again. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, which wasn't weird at all. He was keeping strong for her though and she knew it.  
"That makes no sense." The bear didn't believe him.  
"Hold on, just hold on. Tell us more about this eye, and why is it so important?" Zariah didn't know why the pink dog lady believed Klaus' story, but she was curious as well. She hadn't talked much with Five since his arrival and she didn't really know what he was up to.   
"He said it had something to do with the end of times, or something." Klaus started to cry.  
"Klaus..." Zariah wanted to comfort him. Just give him a hug or something, let him know she was there for him.  
"I'm fine." He tried to reassure her while choking back a sob. The two kidnappers looked at each other and walked over to the chairs without saying another word. They pulled both of their chairs back, but instead of taking them both to the same place, they locked Klaus in the closet while Zariah was sat in the bathroom, facing herself in the mirror. The blue bear man taped her mouth shut again before shutting the door.

She looked at herself in the mirror, a tear rolled down her cheek. The cuts on her face had stopped healing a long time ago and the blood that had fallen from it covert her face. Her brown locks were stuck on the side of her head, soaking wet from the sweat. She could hear Klaus struggling in the closet, which made her only more worried. Worried for her brother, worried if they would escape, worried if they would make it out alive. Then there was a sudden sound of a vacuum cleaner. It was as if Klaus had read her mind. They both began screaming, as far as possible with the tape on their mouths, to get the cleaner's attention. She stopped after a few minutes. More tears rolled down her eyes as she realized there was no hope left. She was going to die there and she knew that.

More time had past when she heard the door open. Her head shot up as she tried to listen to who had entered. Her heart fell as she heard the bickering of their two captors. A small woman came in the room. Zariah immediately recognized her as the pink dog. She tried to break free, although she knew it would work. It only got her a punch in the stomach for return. The woman took her chance, as Zariah was bent over as far as she could, to pull her back into the main area of the hotelroom. She looked up to meet Klaus' eyes. Sweat was all over his head and his eyes were filled with tears. His eyeliner surrounded his eyes as if he were a panda. He tried to speak, but the tape on his mouth prevented for the rest of them to hear what he was saying.   
"What's he saying?" The man, who apparently had brown curls, asked his partner, who in return removed the tape.  
"What are you sayin'?" The woman asked unamused.  
"You guys are scarier without the masks." Klaus insulted them. Zariah had to hold back a laugh at her brother's quirkiness. It was really something for him to say such thing at a time like this. The man had heard her, despite her attempt, and send a kick backwards against her leg. She grunted in pain, that was going to bruise later. Klaus' comment earned him a slap in the face.  
"That's no way to say hello to your old friends, is it?" The man joked.   
"Can't we call it a night? I already gave you hat you wanted and I'm sure my sweet sister would like a good night's rest. Just, please, please let us go." Klaus pleaded.   
"Well, technically, we wanted your brother. Is your brother here now?" The woman asked him.   
"Uh, he- You're gonna have to be a little more specific on that." Klaus chuckled. Zariah looked at where Klaus was looking. The bed was empty, but she knew that Klaus saw someone. 'Could that be-?' Zariah quickly shook that thought out of her head. Ben was dead and Klaus was probably still to high to see him. He got slapped in the face again.   
"I told you already. He's not coming. No one will." Zariah shook her head in agreement.   
"Well, number Five knows now. We left him a message." The woman said matter of factly. "And when he comes for you two, we'll be ready." Klaus got turned around to face the door. He tried to break free as they closed the curtains and turned of the light. He got really still suddenly which made Zariah try to get to him, but she couldn't. The tape still covered her mouth, so she couldn't reassure him with words.   
"No, no, no, no..." Klaus whimpered. She now knew that he went back in his mind to their father's trainings. All of her siblings, except Luther, still had trauma's from those. Luther didn't since he was daddy's boy. There was only silence and Klaus' loud breathing after that.   
"Oh, jesus." Klaus turned around for a second before looking forward again. Zariah frowned. Did she really look that bad? He turned around slowly again and Zariah could now tell that he wasn't looking towards her. There was something behind her. Was he really sobering up? There might still be a good thing about their situation.  
"Hi- Hi! Hi, uh What's your name?" Klaus asked the somthing behind her. "Oh! That's a lovely name. And can you tell me what happened?"  
"What happened is if you don't shut up, I'mma cut your tongue out with a grapefruit spoon." The woman scolded.  
"Zoya Popova." Klaus said out of the blue. Zariah looked at him questionginly.   
"What did he say?" The man sounded just as confused as Zariah felt.  
"Zoya Popova?" The woman answered him.  
"Old Russian broad, short, with a limp." Klaus was probably discribing who he saw. He began laughing as if he were crazy. "Oh, she's really pissed at you guys." He whistled. Klaus suddenly grew quiet as he looked around him. "Just shut up, shut, up, shut up, shut up, shut up. Everybody, just- everybody just shut up, please shut up. Except you Zar. It would be nice if I could actually hear your voice to know if you are freaking ALIVE!" He yelled the last part. "Jesus, you guys are worse than the drugs." He groaned.  
"How could he possibly know about Zoya Popova?" The man voiced Zariah's thoughts once more.   
"Maybe he guessed, I don't know. Who cares? She's dead. You need to focus. That little psycho could show up any minute. Or do you wanna be docked pay again, go back and tell 'em we couldn't hack it, face those consequences? Pull it together, now!" The woman reasoned.  
"Swiss Alps, huh?" Klaus asked something that was in front of him. The man turned him around once more, but stood in front of Zariah to block his few. "Which one are you? Cha-Cha or Hazel?" Klaus asked while trying to get a quick look at his sister.  
"Hazel." The man, Hazel apparently, answered.  
"Jan Mueller. Remember him? Swiss Alps. Him and his wife were coming back from a ski trip." Klaus was awefully calm and it scared Zariah. It stayed silent for a while until the woman, Cha-Cha she now knew, responded.  
"I remember. Forward. Reverse!" Klaus chuckled softly with a big smile on his face.   
"Yeah, that's it! Yeah! And his wife... escaped down an alleyway. He says to thank you."  
"What's he talking about?" Cha-Cha questioned her partner.   
"I don't know." Her partner answered. He obviously knew what Klaus was talking about, but wouldn't admit it.  
"He was so grateful to you, Hazel, for having spared his wife. You know, there may be hope for him yet. Don't you think?" Klaus knew he was only adding fuel to a fight that would become between the two.   
"Bathroom, now!" Cha-Cha ordered and Hazel followed hessistantly. Zariah could now finally see Klaus again.  
"You okay?" Klaus asked with worried eyes. Zariah nodded and gave him the 'how are you doing?' look she had often given him when he came out of rehab. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." He was silent for a second before thanking someone, but she didn't know if it was her or someone else.   
"Jan says you're a real mensch, Hazel!" Klaus yelled in the direction of the bathroom. Cha-Cha came out not a second later "he said you were such a great- No. No! No!" She had taped his mouth shut. He silently cursed himself for doing what he did. It was like he had a plan. He turned his chair around and made his way over to the table. Zariah looked at him questioningly, but he couldn't see it. She heard someone on the outside of the room and not long after a female came walking past. Klaus tried to scream, but it didn't work, so he decided to slam his head on the table. Zariah didn't do anything, to shocked at the chance that they would actually be saved. It didn't take long before the door was opened. She recognized the woman. It was the detective Diego seemed to like. She had seen her around a few times when she had picked him up after bailing him out, but never got to talk with her.  
"Are you Diego's brother?" She looked at Klaus. "Aren't you his sister?" Zariah nodded as hard as she could, which made her head ache.   
"I'm Detective Patch." Klaus and Zariah both tried to warn her about the danger she was in. She took out a small knife and cut the tape around Klaus' wrists. She quickly walked over to Zariah and did the same. The bathroom door slowly opened and she shoved Klaus and Zariah behind the bed. She fired her gun two times, both times missing Hazel.   
"Police! Drop the gun, or you're going down!" She yelled at him. Zariah pulled the tape of her mouth quickly.  
"I'm coming out. Don't shoot." Zariah held her breath as Hazel exited the bathroom. Klaus grabbed his coat and made his way trough the fants, pushing a briefcase with him.  
"Hands behind your head, asshole."   
"Okay. Just don't shoot." Hazel complied. Zariah knew that he was up to something and since Cha-Cha wasn't there she knew they were up to something. Hazel went down on his knees as Patch took a step foreward. Zariah looked at the door and saw movement.   
"NO!" She yelled as she jumped up. Two shots sounded while she pushed the detective out of the way. She landed with her head on the dresser and Zariah fell down forward. The slight rumbling of the ground beneath her shot through her mind. There hadn't been any earthquakes for decades, but it could have been her imagination as easilly. Things got really hazy after that.

Diego walked down the hall.  
"Klaus?" He called out for his brother. He turned around and looked into a room, freezing for a few seconds. He then made his way over to the two bodies in the room.  
"No, no, no! Eudora! Zariah!" He knelt down at Eudora first, checking her pulse. It was weak, but still there. He sighed a little in relieve, but a tear still fell down his face. She hat a bullet wound in her right shoulder, but it hadn't hit anything critical. He then quickly made his way over to his sister, who had sworn was still at home. He cursed himself for not checking up on her, or Klaus for that matter. He turned her around. There was blood coming from a her stomach, where the bullet had entered.  
"Come on, Zariah. Please, stay with me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just stay awake." Zariah didn't do as told. Her eyes rolled back and she let out a shaky breath. He cradled her head in his lap and combed her long brown hair. "You're going to be okay, little sister." He knew she hated to be called that. She may have been number Eight, but they were all the exact same age. Sirens could be heard in the background. He checked on the detective one last time before taking Zariah in his arms and walking out as fast as he could without making it worse.  
"I'm sorry, Zariah. Please don't go. Pl- ple- please don't g-go." His stutter returned as he broke down. He placed her in the pasangers seat of his car and drove to the only place he knew where they could help her. The Academy.


	6. Chapter 5: Number Five

Diego's car peeped as he came to an abrupt stop in front of the Hargreeves mansion. He carried his sister inside the house.  
"Allison! Vanya!" He knew they probably wouldn't be home, but he had to try. Pogo had heard him though and came walking in as fast as he could. He didn't say a word, just signed for Diego to follow him. They made their way through the house in record time.  
"What happened?" Was all Pogo asked while Diego placed her body on the table in their infirmary.   
"I was looking for Five, with Luther, when Eudora called about finding my siblings. They were both shot, but Eudora is fine, isn't she? I don't know." Diego was rambling while pacing around.   
"I need you to keep this open." Pogo broke his train of thoughts. The ape was standing with large tweezers in one hand and was pointing at the bullet wound. He held two gloves in the hand he was pointing with and handed them to Diego, who cringed away.   
"Nope, I can't do that. Nope." Diego shook his head as he kept on looking at the blood that was still flowing out of his sister.   
"Master Diego, this is the only way." Diego sighed and took the gloves hesitantly. His fingers slipped into the wound and he opened it a little further. Pogo reached in with the tweezers and took the bullet out carefully.   
"Grab me a unit of blood. It's in the cabinet on the right." Pogo instructed when he carefully placed the bullet into the kidney tray. Diego, happy to get his hands out the wound, sprinted towards the cabinet. He opened it and grabbed the last unit they had.   
"It's the last one." He stated as he handed it to Pogo.  
"I hope it's the last one we need. I can take it from here." Pogo answered as he pulled out a needle. Diego, feeling lightheaded, nodded and left. He was going to wait for Zariah to wake up, but he felt an urge to go somewhere else. He needed an explanation and there was only one person he knew that could give it to him.

She had never felt so tired before, though she was waking up. Her eyes opened slowly, but she was met with a blurry vision.   
"Welcome back, Miss Zariah. How do you feel?" The familiar voice of Pogo asked.   
"Never been better." She answered sarcastically.   
"Do you remember what happened?"  
"I- No- Yes- The detective. O my god! Where is Klaus?" Zariah tried to sit up, but Pogo's hand held her back.   
"I believe I heard him come in about an hour ago. I will be checking in on him soon."  
"Thank god." Zariah sighed as she eased back into the table. "Do you have my medicine with you?" She looked at Pogo from the corner of her eyes.   
"Of course." He smiled a little while slipping his hand in his right pocket and taking the small bottle filled with pills out. He opened it and handed her one pill.  
"Thanks." She gave him a weak smile, before sitting up slightly. She popped the pill in her mouth and swallowed it along with the little bit of water Pogo had given her. She looked down at her body, noticing the intravenous drip that was connected to her arm. She followed the wire that led to an empty plastic bag.  
"I can remove it, if you wish, or I could plug it in to some painkillers." It was like Pogo had read her mind.   
"Just remove it, please. Can you call mom? I want to talk to her." Pogo stayed silent as he removed the needle from her skin.  
"Let's get you to your room." He ignored her previous request.  
"Pogo, where's mom?" Zariah questioned while she stood up. She leaned a little on the ape, but tried to stay up on her own as much as she could.   
"She is" He hesitated. "not here, but that doesn't matter right now. I'm sure she'll be back soon."   
"Guess the finally went to the park than." She dismissed his hesitation. The walked through the empty hallways. It took them longer than she had wanted, but they had finally arrived at her room. She could hear two people talking a few rooms away, but she couldn't really figure out who and which room. The door to her room opened, revealing the gray walls with a few pictures on it. The bed in the corner of her room was made and the curtains were wide open. Pogo helped Zariah sit down on the bed with her back against the wall.   
"Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?" Stopped in the doorway.  
"No, thank you, Pogo. I'm fine."   
"I will be back to check on you later." He walked out with that. She listened to his footsteps and the click of the cane fading away until he was to far away for her to hear him. She tilted her head back and rested it against the wall. Her eyes closed slightly as she let out a sigh. Her mind flashed back to the day before. She still felt the fear. Seeing Klaus bleeding, the beatings, the gunshots. The sound of the shots echoed through hear head. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to regulate her breathing.  
"Hey." A familiar voice sounded from near the doorway. She opened her eyes to look at Five, who was leaning against the wall near the door.  
"Hey." She whispered back, a headache was forming.  
"How do you feel?" He strode over the the bed and sat down on the edge. There was a little bit of worry in his eyes.  
"I'm fine."  
"You sure do look fine." Sarcasm, that was the tone she had gotten used to from him.  
"Yeah, don't feel like that's my fault." She closed her eyes again. A hand touched hers and she felt it wrap around hers.   
"I'm sorry." It was nothing more than a soft whisper.   
"It's fine." She dismissed his apologie. It wasn't his fault he got shot, right?   
"Get some rest." He stood up, letting her hand drop back on the bed. Five petted Zariah's head before walking away.  
"Do that again and I'll bite your hand off!" She yelled after him, cursing herself for making her headache worse.  
"No you won't!" She grinned a little at the response she got. No, she wouldn't bite his hand of. Kick in the guts? Yes she most definitely would.  
"Zar?" She heard another familiar voice from the hall.  
"Klaus? O my god, I'm so glad you're alright!" Klaus came running into the room, wrapping his sister in a tight hug.   
"O my god! What happened?" Klaus quickly pulled away when he felt her cringe a little. Her stomach hurt like hell.   
"I was shot. Where did you get those dog tags from?" She changed the subject quickly.  
"You got what?! God, this is my fault. I should've stayed with you." He went with his hand trough his messy black hair while pacing around the room. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down to the bed.   
"No, I'm glad you left. So, where did you go?"  
"I-" Klaus began, but he couldn't finish it.  
"Did you meet someone?" She asked, noticing that there were actually two dog tags on the necklace.   
"I did, yeah."  
"Is he hot?"  
"The hotte-. Wait, I never told you I'm gay." Zariah chuckled a little.   
"Klaus, dear, I'm your sister. The sister you came to when you were all high and stuff. Do you really think I didn't know?"  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, fine." He sighed in defeat. Zariah took the moment to get a closer look at the tags.  
"How did he die?" It was the obvious question. She didn't really care where he went or how.   
"Shot through the heart." A tear started to form in his eye.   
"I'm sorry."   
"No, it's fine. I'm back, you're alive. That's what matters." Klaus stood up slowly. "I'm in my room if you need me, alright? You sure that you'll be fine."  
"100% sure." She nodded and sent him a small smile. It was not two seconds later when the next person popped up in her doorway.  
"Hey."  
"I guess I should thank you." She got right to the point.  
"Why?" Diego questioned.  
"It was you that saved me, wasn't it?"  
"You're my sister. I'll save you whenever you're in danger." A shy smile came to his face.   
"Do you know where mom went?" Zariah changed the topic quickly.  
"Zar, Mom, she-" Diego knelt down beside her and took her hand in his.  
"Where is she, Diego." Fear was starting to fill her body.   
"She's dead. The two who almost killed you did actually kill her."  
"No, no. She can't be. No." She stood up, getting away from Diego. The pain in her stomach was getting less due to the fear of losing her mother, the person who she had spend with in her life, who had cared the most. Arms wrapped around her body, folding her in a hug. She struggled against the grip as tears fell down her face. She screamed at Diego and tried to kick him.  
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He whispered in her ear. Another pair of arms stole her away from Diego's strong grip.  
"Ssssh. It's alright." It was Klaus that held her. He had heard the screams from his room. She cried into his shoulder. "It's alright. You'll be fine. Just cry it all out." She could feel a single tear land on her own shoulder. She could hear Diego leave the room. She could hear him going into his own room. Zariah pulled away after a minute. She wiped away the tears that stained her cheek. She didn't say a word to Klaus as she left her room, going to the kitchen to get some painkillers. She deliberately took another route to avoid the one place in her house that her mother loved the most and where she would most likely be. Tears were still in her eyes, but she ignored them. She grabbed the painkillers as soon as she got the the cabinet and downed two of them without water. She sat down and listened to Klaus and Diego who were apparently leaving the house without saying goodbye, what a surprise...   
"I need to leave this house." She muttered to herself. She was still wearing her bloody red dress, but she didn't care. She took her jacket with her and walked out of the house, ignoring the huge chandelier that was laying shattered on the ground. She walked mindlessly for what felt like a century until she came face to face with a door. She looked up at the number. She was standing in front of the adres Jake had given her. She knocked softly and the door flung open after about half a minute.  
"Zariah?" Jake tilted his head a little.  
"Sorry, I needed to leave the house."  
"No, no, of course. Come in."  
"Thanks." She walked past him. He led her into the living room. It was simple. There was a small tv on one corner with a gray couch opposite and a small coffee table in between. The walls were a mixture between beige and grey. The room connected to the kitchen and another room, which she only could assume was the garage. Jake helped her out of her coat, but stopped halfway as he saw the dress and the blood.  
"What happened?" He asked with wide eyes.  
"Nothing. It's fine." She wrapped her arms around her stomach in attempt to hide it.   
"Do you want something else to wear? You can have my sweatpants and one of my shirts." He offered, knowing not to push.  
"Yeah, thanks." She sat down on the couch as he left to get it for her. He came back with grey sweatpants and a red shirt.  
"Red looks good on you." He explained with a smile when Zariah raised her eyebrow at the color. "Do you want something to eat? I was about to eat the left over pizza for lunch. There's enough for us both." He smirked.  
"I love pizza." She answered with a grin before walking into the bathroom to change. She threw the bloody dress into the sink, she could try to fix that later. Both the shirt and the pants were to big for her, but she kind of liked it. It was comfortable and it smelled like Jake. She mentally slapped herself for already falling in love with someone she had met just a few days ago.

"I called you earlier, but the man on the phone, Pogo I think, wouldn't answer my question." Jake told Zariah as she came walking into the kitchen.  
"Pogo is our personal house ape. He's a little 'protective' when it comes to me and my siblings."   
"It's not nice to call someone an ape." Jake turned around with the pizza and placed it on the table with a grin.  
"He's littarly an ape. Guess one of Dad's experiments went wrong."  
"So wait," He said while taking a bite of his pizza. "you have an actual ape walking around in the house. One that can actually talk."   
"And he has been more of a fatherfigure that my actual dad. Thank you very much, dear old dad." She looked up at the last part, scolding him for his 'amazing' parenting skills.

They were laughing when the phone suddenly rang.  
"Excuse me for a second. I'll be right back." He walked into the living room to answer the phone.  
"Hey, Leonard. Now's not really the right time. Call me back later, okay? Bye." He hung up after that.   
"Wait? Leonard? As in Vanya's boyfriend Leonard?" Zariah questioned as he returned into the kitchen.  
"We're old friends." He explained.   
"We should do a double date!" Zariah exclaimed happily.  
"Let's see about that." Jake chuckled. "How about, we watch a movie. I've got the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy."   
"MARATHON!" Zariah jumped up from her chair and ran over to the couch. Jake came in a little later with glasses, a bottle of wine and some snacks.  
"It may be a little to earl-"  
"It's never early for wine." Zariah cut him of as she took the bottle from him.  
"I think we are made for eachother." He said with a grin as he turned the tv on and put the first dvd in.   
"Maybe it's fate."  
"Maybe it is." He sat down next to her. She gave him a quick kiss before leaning in to him and he wrapped his arm around her.

They stayed there till the day had past and night had fallen.   
"Do you want to sleep?" Jake glanced down at her. Her eyes were already closed.  
"Mhm." Was all she could get out. He chuckled and stood up, only to lift her up in his arms a second later. She wrapped her arms around his neck as they walked into the bedroom. They laid down next to each other. Zariah curled up against him as he pulled the blanket over both of them.  
"Good night, beauiful." He whispered before she drifted off.


	7. Chapter 6: The day that wasn't

"Morning, sunshine." Zariah's eyes opened slowly. She was met by a big smile on Jake's face.   
"Morning." She sighed and rolled back on het back, pulling the blanket with her.  
"What does the princess want to do today? I talked to Leonard, he and Vanya are going to your house for an introduction. Why don't we go with them? I'm dying to meet your family. And you need some new clothes anyway."  
"Sure." Zariah said plainly. She didn't really care, as long as she could lay in bed for a few more minutes.   
"Come on," He pulled her out of bed by her arm. "I told them we would meet them in half an hour."   
"Why?!" Zariah whined.   
"Because it's already 9:30 and they are on their way over here. My house is on their route." Zariah only now noticed that he was already fully clothed. His brown hair was pulled back in a small bun and he was wearing black glasses.  
"Where'd you get the glasses from?" Zariah asked while going through her hair with a comb.  
"I didn't want to wear my contacts today, so I thought I'd wear my glasses today."  
"They look good on you." Zariah kissed him quickly before taking his hand and pulling him through the house. She was putting on her shoes when the doorbell rang.  
"It's open!" Jake yelled in the general direction.  
"Good folk!" Zariah could hear the voice of a man sound through the house.  
"Zar?" Vanya's stood in the doorway.  
"Vanya!" Zariah jumped up, even though it hurt like hell, and wrapped her sister in a tight hug.   
"What the hell happened to you?" She was looking Zariah up and down, but Zariah didn't really care.  
"You're wearing make up. It looks good on you."   
"Thanks." Vanya smiled shyly.   
"You must be Leonard. I've heard a lot about you." Zariah averted her gaze to the unknown man that was standing next to Jake, looking fondly at the girls.  
"And you must be Zariah. Vanya told me about you."   
"All good stories, I hope." Zariah rubbed her neck a little awkward.  
"Zar, get your shoes on. We should go." Jake already had their coats in his hands.  
"Yes, mom." Zariah joked as she finished putting her shoes on. They walked out a minute later. Vanya and Leonard walking in front of Jake and Zariah.   
"Your sister seems nice." Jake whispered in her ear.  
"She is the best." Zariah felt a little bit dreamily. The fact was that she hadn't taken her medicine, having forgotten to take those with her.

They walked into the house together. Vanya led the company through the house, both girls telling short stories about their youth. They made their way down, weirdly not having met any of their siblings yet.   
"How come you two aren't in any of these?" Leonard asked as they walked past the paintings of their super-family.   
"It's always about the Umbrella Academy. We just didn't make the cut, so..." Vanya explained.  
"So dad didn't find us important enough to put us in the frame." Zariah finished for her, grabbing Jake's hand in the proces. Vanya was walking a little faster to where voices were heard and Zariah ran after her, leaving the two men behind. There was noise coming from the living room so they assumed that at least two of their siblings would be their. Vanya and Leonard stopped dead in their tracks, which lead to Zariah bumping in to her. To her surprise she saw all of her siblings, except five, gathered around.  
"Just now, you're telling-" Diego's voice was getting louder.  
"Leonard. Hey, Leonard, come on." Vanya called Leonard over. Zariah didn't need to call for Jake as he came following suite after him.  
"No, we need to figure this out." Diego continued.  
"Is it just us?" That had to be Allison.  
"It's everybody." Luther responded.  
"In the house?" Diego questioned.  
"What are they talking about?" Jake whispered into Zariah's ear.  
"I have no idea, but it was obviously to important to include us in it." Zariah was already burning up from anger.  
"No, outside the house. Everyone died." Vanya walked in with Leonard on her heels, but Zariah decided to hide away behind the wall, listening in to their conversation. Jake followed her example, also a little afraid that she'd get mad at him if he'd walk into the room where it happened.   
"Hey." Vanya greeted the four. She sounded a little upset, which was just the top of the iceberg of what Zariah was feeling. Maybe because Vanya liked to see the good in people, eventhough they had betrain them more than once. Zariah on the other hand... "What's going on?"   
"It's a family matter." Allison answered. Zariah scoffed. She really wanted to punch her in her perfect face.   
"A family matter. So you couldn't bother to include me or Zariah." Zariah could hear Vanya getting pissed.  
"No, it's not like that. We were-" Luther tried, but was cut of.  
"Don't let me interrupt."  
"Vanya, wait. I'll fill you in later when we're alone."  
"Please, please, don't bother. And I won't either." Alison now stood near enough to the doorway to see a redfaced Zariah.  
"Zar, I-"  
"No, no. I agree with Van."  
"That's not fair."  
"Fair? There's nothing fair about being your sister. We have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember. And I used to think it was Dad's fault, but he's dead."  
"You are such assholes." Zariah commented with hate in her voice. She didn't recognize the boys who had cared for her the day before anymore. She stormed off towards her room while Vanya and Leonard left the house.   
"Shit." Jake muttered before walking after Zariah.

"Zariah?" Jake knocked on her door.  
"You're save to come in, Jake." Zariah joked, but anger was still filling her.   
"Do you want to talk about it? It was a shitty thing they just pulled." He sat down next to her on her bed. There was some dried blood covering her pillow, but she didn't care.   
"Nah. I'm used to it really." Truth be told she didn't want to talk about it.   
"Alright, then we don't talk." A smirk appeared on his face and her eyes grew wide. Before she knew it she was laying on the bed underneath him.   
"Jake! Get off me!" She tried to sound stern, but the smile on her face betrayed her.  
"I really like it when you smile." He gave her a quick kiss before letting her go.  
"I like you too." She didn't get up, deciding it would cost to much energy.   
"I'm sorry, but I need to go." Jake sat up with a sigh. The smile fell from Zariah's face.  
"Why?"   
"I have an appointment in an hour and I still need to get my stuff. I'm so sorry. If you want to leave this house, you know where I live." He took his key chain out of his pocket and pulled one of the keys from it. "This is my spare key. Use it wisely." Zariah was left speechless as she took the key from him. He kissed her one more time before leaving her alone in her room. She looked down at the key that was laying in her hand.   
"Zariah?" Allison's voice sounded from the doorway.  
"Go away."  
"Zar, just let me explain."   
"You've explained enough." Zariah crossed her arms as she kept looking at the wall in front of her.   
"You're not be-"  
"Being fair? You've said that before and Vanya was right. It's not fair being your sister. Not fair being the sister of the o so famous Umbrella Academy kids or the famous Allison Hargreeves."  
"Just listen to me this one time."   
"You know what. No. I've listened to you often enough. Now go and leave my room." Rage was filling her body again. It was a strange feeling since her medicine used to keep her from feeling emotions. It made her feel stronger. It was like something had been missing inside of her and was now finding it's way back to her. A small rumble got her out of her thoughts.  
"Alright. I'll go." Allison raised her hands in surrender and left. It was only seconds later that Pogo came in walking as fast as he could.   
"Are you alright, Miss Zariah?"   
"Yeah, fine." Zariah unfolleded her arms and placed the key on her nightstand. "Though from the sounds of it, Luther is raiding Dad's room." She reffered to the stomping noises that sounded from somewhere else in the house. It was only a way to get Pogo to leave. She didn't really care about her brother anymore. Pogo sighed before leaving the room. She was alone for a while, listening to the sounds of two of her brothers above her and Allison and Luther going somewhere else.   
"You look like you need a cookie." The voice that came from the hallway shook her out of her thoughts.   
"Mom? Diego told me that you-."   
"I'm right here." She walked into the room with a plate filled with cookies and a glass of milk in her hands. She put them on her nightstand next to the key. Zariah jumped up and wrapped her mother in a tight hug. Tears started streaming down her face.  
"I thought I lost you." She whispered in her mother's whit blouse.   
"Remember what we promised each other?" Her mother asked her to which she nodded.

_Luther had just left to the moon. It had been four years since he was turned into the ape thing he was and only two days since he had woken up._   
_"Is he going to be alright?" Zariah asked her mother with tears in her eyes. She may not have been really close with Luther, but he was the last of her seven siblings to leave. Even Vanya had at one moment left the house._   
_"I'm sure he be perfectly fine." She wrapped one arm around her daughter. They were looking at the first painting of the family. It was the only one with everyone on it, excluding Vanya, Grace, Pogo and herself. "Is there something else wrong?" Her mother looked at her with worry filled in her eyes._   
_"It's just- Everyone has left. What happens if Pogo leaves or Dad dies or you-"_   
_"I will always be here for you. If you need me just call my name and I'll be by your side. And if your father passes away in the far future then I'll still be here and I'm sure that Pogo will be here till his last breath." Pogo walked in with a small smile on his face._   
_"Your mother is right. You'll always have us and even your father, although he may not show it. He cares deeply for you." Pogo confirmed. Zariah wiped away some tears and gave a weak smile._   
_"Do you promise?"_   
_"I promise." Her mother confirmed._

"Did I keep my word?" Grace asked with a raised eyebrow and a soft smile.  
"Ofcourse you did."  
"That's because I would never lie to you." She stood up and walked to the door. "I need to clean some things. I'll see you tonight at dinner." She send Zariah one last smile before walking out. 

Pogo returned a while later, when she was reading a book about some random dude trying to find the love of his life while being a criminal. Night had already fallen by that time. And no, she hadn't had any dinner, but she didn't really fancy eating at that moment.  
"I have to inform you on something." He began as he stayed in the doorway.  
"What is it, Pogo?" Zariah looked up at him, her interest had sparked up.  
"Your father did not send your brother away because he couldn't stand the sight of him. He-" Pogo sighed as Zariah looked at him in a weird way. Why would he tell her this? It didn't really matter to her why he did it. At least she thought.  
"He did it to protect you."   
"Of what? Luther is my brother."   
"Yes, but he wanted to save you from him." Zariah scoffed at this.   
"He didn't care about me. He cut me off from the rest. Isolated me! He wouldn't even care if I dropped dead right in front of him!" She started yelling. She didn't know why it hit her that hard, maybe it had been the boiling rage that was still in her.  
"He did care, miss Zariah." Pogo tried to calm her down, probably regretting his choices.  
"Don't tell me he cared when all he said to me was: 'No, number Eight.' 'You'll never be special.' 'Leave.'" The ground started rumbling again, but it was like she wasn't affected by it. Pogo however... The ape almost fell to the ground.  
"I need you to calm down." But that's not what Zariah did. It was like her instinct had his her. Spikes started to rise out of the flore, not big, but they were all getting bigger as there came more of them.   
"Zariah!" Her mother called out for her. Zariah's eyes flickered to the doorway where she saw her mother. It was like she was beginning to lose control. A spike as thick as a tree, as long as a door and sharper than a knife shot out of the ground. A scream left her mouth as she saw her mother getting pierced by it. She fell to her knees and screamed as hard as she could. Another spike came out of the ground, this one piercing Pogo right through the heart. She heard a thut above her. Someone or something had fallen in the attic.  
"I pr- pr- promise." She could hear her mother's voice before her body went limp. It was like time itself had stopped around her. Silence filled the air and the stone spikes stood still. One still piercing her mother and another piercing Pogo. What had she done?!

**_*That morning again*_ **

Zariah was storming off to her room with Jake following her. Her body was filled with rage. How could they not include them? After all they've been through, she expected a little more from her siblings.


	8. Chapter 7: The day that was

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm changing this story from point of view at some points, so bear with me okay?
> 
> ~ F

_Many years ago_

"What are you in for, new kid?" A boy with long brown hair sat on his bed, which was way to hard for his taste, looking at the boy who had entered only an hour ago. Said boy looked up at him from where he sat in the corner of the dark room.   
"Killed someone."   
"Who did you kill?"  
"My dad."   
"Nice!" The brown haired boy stood up from the bed and went over to the sitting boy.   
"Why are you here?"   
"I may or may not have killed some boys that were bullying me."  
"That's awesome." The boy looked at the brown haired boy.  
"I think we could be really good friends." The boy stook out his hand for the other to shake. "What's your name?"  
"Harold. Harold Jenkins." The boy stood up and shook the brown haired boy's hand.  
"Kevin Hunter, but when I get out I'm changing my name to Jake Williams. I don't want to be known in the history books as the man who killed his childhood bullies. I'm meant for greater things. And if I'm going to be remembered than I'd only want to be remembered for the good things."  
"Like what?"  
"Like ending the Umbrella Academy."

_Wednesday, 8:15 am (again)_

"Harold Jenkins and Kevin Hunter? Who the hell are they?" Was the last thing Zariah heard coming from the living room. The door to her room flew open as she stormed in with Jake right behind her.   
"I'm sick of them leaving me out of everything!" Zariah was frustrated to say the least.  
"I know you are. Why don't we go somewhere else? I can cancel my appointment. We can go back to my house and watch some movies."   
"No. I need to tell them how I feel. But on the other hand: they don't fucking deserve my attention." Zariah grew angrier and angrier. She didn't notice that the ground began shaking underneath her.   
"Zariah." Jake tried to get her attention.   
"It's not fair that they get to have a meeting about God knows what, but Vanya and I can't because we're 'normal'." Spikes started to rise up from the ground.  
"Zariah!" Jake got a hold of her shoulders as he finally got her attention.  
"What the hell." She looked around. Spikes as sharp as spears stuck out of the ground in a circle around them. "How did this happen?" Her eyes went wide with confusion. A few of the stone spikes had pierced through her bed while others pierced through her bureau, closet and nightstand.   
"You did this!" A big smile appeared on Jake's face. "It's amazing! You're not normal, you're special. Just like them, but maybe even more powerful."  
"No, no, no, no. That can't be. I don't have any powers." Rage started to fade away in confusion. Ones all her rage had left her body, and the confusion had settled in, the spikes broke down to the ground leaving small peaces spread over the floor, holes in her furniture and weird spots from where they had once been. "I did so not do that." She went with one hand through her long brown hair.   
"But you did! This is amazing, Zar! You can prove your siblings wrong. Let them know that you are powerful too. Get into some other clothes. I grab my coat and we'll leave. I know just about the right place to go." He left before Zariah could say another word. She changed into a black shirt with a red flower print skirt and white sneakers. She packet a small backpack with some underwear, spare clothes and her toiletry.

"Are you ready?" Jake asked as soon as Zariah walked down the stairs.  
"Yeah, I'm ready." She sighed as she looked back one last time.  
"Zar? Where are you going?" Zariah turned on her heels, facing the one who spoke to her.  
"I'll wait outside." She could hear how awkward Jake was feeling, which she completely understood. She heard the door slam shut a few seconds later.  
"What do you care where I go? Last time I checked I wasn't even important enough to be invited to a family meeting." Zariah scoffed.   
"I'm sorry, alright. We didn't mean to forget you." Klaus apologized. Zariah took a quick look at him. He had a robe over his right shoulder, but she didn't really care since she had seen stranger things from him.  
"Sorry won't cut it. And you know what? I'm leaving with Jake."   
"Zar, I have seen him for only a few seconds and even I can see he's toxic. Can't you see it?"  
"Toxic? I don't think you have the right to say toxic. You're probably still high."  
"Just listen, okay. Don't leave. You don't know what's out there! You just met this guy, and I know since you never left this freaking house, and I don't trust him."   
"Don't go play the big brother role when you've never been a real brother!" Anger was starting to rise in her again. "If I could get a penny every time you let me down, hurt me, lied to me or left me out of something, I would be rich." She wanted to turn around, but Klaus got a hold of her arm.  
"Please, I'm begging you, don't go. If you stay you can tie me up." He winked at his sister, who in turn only rolled her eyes.  
"Is this all some sort of game to you?"  
"Please, stay. If not for me do it for Ben." Klaus pleaded. Zariah's eyes went wide. She hadn't really talked about him since his dead and Klaus had always said that he wasn't able to see him.  
"So you have been seeing him this entire time?" She stepped back, out of reach from Klaus' hand.  
"Yes, but-" Zariah turned around and stormed right out of the Hargreeves mansion. "Zariah!" She heard Klaus call after her. "Alright, if you say so." That was the last thing she heard, but she didn't know if that last comment was meant for her or Ben.  
"Let's go." She pulled Jake by the arm.  
"Zariah, you need to calm down, okay? You don't have full control of your powers yet." She took a deep breath, letting the tension leave her body. "You good?"   
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Where are we going?" They stepped inside one of her father's old cars.   
"My father owned a house out of town. It was in my heritage and I think it is the perfect spot to practice."

_ ~ Five, Diego and Allison ~ _

"Guess I pretty much failed at that. But you need to call me. Okay? I love you, sis." Allison placed the phone back. She had tried to call Vanya, but she probably wasn't at home.   
"So?" Five questioned as Diego came walking back with police files in his good hand. Allison didn't have the time for their shit so she decided to just take it from him. She turned the pages until she came to a photo.   
"Holy shit."  
"What?"   
"Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody." She answered Diego's question.  
"That's one of the two. What about Kevin Hunter?" Five pushed.  
"Let's see." Allison looked over all the information she saw. "Cel mate." Was all she said when she saw the information.   
"Do you have a picture?" Diego asked, now looking over Allison's shoulder.  
"I don't see-" She was turning pages until it started with a new file. "Who the hell is that?"   
"Where have I seen him before?" Diego went with a hand through his hair.   
"Let me see." Five commanded and Allison turned it around quickly. "Shit."   
"What is it?" Allison questioned him.  
"I think I've seen him in the house. Isn't that the guy who was with Zariah?"   
"Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that both of our sisters are with some psychopaths?" Diego was dumb founded.   
"We check Harold Jenkin's house first, Kevin's later." Five told them before spacial jumping back into the car.

_ ~ Zariah ~ _

It took almost two hours to get to their destination. Mostly because of traffic, but it was pretty far away from the city too. The house was basically a farm with akers of land surrounding it. The walls were colored a soft blue and the roof was dark brown.   
"This is yours?" Zariah asked wide eyes.  
"Yup, all mine." He took her hand and pulled her into the house. "Sorry for the mess, I didn't expect visitors on such a short notice."  
"You call this a mess?" Zariah let out a low laugh. "I grew up in a house with eight children. This is like a hospital to me."   
"Alright," He clapped in his hands. "How do we start?" They had just flung their bags into the house and walked onto one of the fields.  
"You think I know, fanboy? I think you've seen more superhero movies than I have."  
"Try to get the ground to shake. That happened at first in your room." Zariah looked at him and he nodded. She tried to concentrate, but began laughing when it didn't work after a few seconds.  
"This is not working. I think we might have just been drunk or something, because I don't think I'm special. I would've known that ages ago."  
"Just, just try. For me."  
"Alright, for you." She closed her eyes, breathed in, but nothing happened.   
"Focus!"   
"Yelling at me isn't going to make it any better!" She yelled back.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to I-" He apologized.  
"No, it's alright. Let's just- I'm hungry. Let's just eat something." 

_ ~ Diego and Allison ~ _

"Anything?" Diego asked Allison, looking at her quickly before looking back at the unconscious Five and his mother.   
"There's no answer at Vanya's place. And the receptionist at her music school said she was a no-show for her lessons today." Diego nodded and turned around.   
"Hey, you okay?"  
"Yeah. I don't know, it's just surreal seeing her. It is just that I told Zariah that she had died and now she's here and I just want to tell mom that I'm s-. We don't have enough time. We got to go."  
"I don't know, Diego. Five is laying there, unconscious. We need him."  
"We can do this ourselves. We can talk with Zariah. We at least don't have to look for her since she's in her room."  
"We did that already, remember? We all ended up dead. Besides, we don't know how Zariah is going to react when she hears about mom. I haven't seen her taking her medicine. And I think I should go and see Claire before-"  
"You can't run away from this, Allison. That's what started this whole mess in the first place. Luther was right." Allison looked at her brother in shock.  
"I didn't think I would ever hear you say those words."   
"Yeah, well... We gotta stick together."  
"Where do we start?"   
"For Harold, there's no other addresses in the file, but there is another relation listed. Jenkins' grandmother. But we first need to talk to Zariah. If we could just keep her away from that guy, that would be enough at first." 

"Zar?" Allison knocked on the door that led to her sister's room. Diego was standing right behind her. "Are you in here?" She opened the door slowly. The room they entered was a mess. There were holes torn through almost everything and there were bricks and dust laying all over the place. Random pieces of clothing were flung over the chair in the corner of the room.   
"Shit." Diego muttered.  
"Does this mean-"  
"I think so." Diego went with his good hand trough his hair.  
"What do we do now?" Allison questioned while looking at her brother.  
"We get to Zariah first. I think that Hunter guy has taken her to a farm that used to be his father's. I saw it in his file and if he's smart enough to get to her then he's probably there."  
"And we go get Vanya after that." Allison finished. Diego nodded and they made their way outside.

"Nope. Come on, this way." Diego turned his sister around as they walked down the street. There were cars coming down said street.  
"Wait, but the car is back that way."  
"Trust me, okay? Come on."   
"But what is going on?"   
"They're here for me. They think I did something."  
"What do they think you did?"   
"Murder." Diego answered as the sirens turned on.  
"Did you?" Allison made Diego look at her.  
"No, no, no, of course not, okay? Why would you ask that about me, anyway?"  
"I mean, you do carry knives with you everywhere."  
"Yeah, okay, we're gonna have to split, okay? I'm in charge. Remember? Vanya and Zariah need you. First Zariah. You have the adress."   
"Don't do anything stupid, okay?" Allison looked one last time at her brother before walking away. Sirens blared, but she chose to ignore it, heading straight for the car.

_ ~ Zariah ~ _

Zariah was walking over the land around the house. The farm was far away in the distance, as big as a wasp from her point of view. She had decided to take a walk while Jake was cleaning the place. So she strolled down the road. It was helping her to clear her thoughts. And it may be late in the night, but she always felt a lot freer at night. It was the only time her father allowed her to dream. The dim lights from the street lights lightened the brick road. She was pulled out of her thoughts as a car came speeding down. The headlights blinded her momentarily, but that passed as soon as the car had passed. Then there was a sudden sound of someone hitting the brakes a if their life depended on it, so Zariah turned around to look at the now stopped car.  
"Zariah?" Allison's voice came from the car. Not soon later her tall frame came out of said car.  
"Allison? What are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?"  
"I'll explain later, alright? Just get in the car. We need to go now."  
"No, you need to explain first." Zariah took a step towards her sister. There was still a little anger in her from what had happened earlier.   
"Please, Zar. We need to leave here. It's not save. That guy you're with isn't who he says he is."  
"O, please. Like you know who people are. I'm a grown woman. I make my own decisions."  
"You haven't been out of that house in years." Allison argued back.  
"And still he has cared about me more than you did in all these years!" Allison stayed quiet for a while. "And have you seen what happened to my room? He thinks I'm special. Did you know that I had powers?" A little bit of excitement crept into her voice. She and Jake had made progress that day, although it was just a little.  
"I-" Allison began answering what was meant as a theoretical question.   
"Wait, did you?" Zariah tried to study her sister's face.  
"Zariah, we-"  
"You all knew?" She didn't let her sister finish.  
"Yes, we all did, except Vanya." Allison explained uncertain. She didn't want to make her sister angry and endager them both.  
"How?" 

_ 18 years ago _

"What did you do, Number Eight?" Sir Reginald Hargreeves stood in the doorway of her room with wide eyes.   
"I'm sorry, but it looked so pretty." The eleven-year-old Zariah stood in her room next to the window. Shards of glass covered the floor of her room. She was holding a red stone in her hands.  
"Where did it come from, answer me." Her father demanded.  
"The bright red dot in the sky. Vanya and Five were telling me about that that star is Mars." The little girl explained without making eyecontact.  
"Number three!" Sir Hargreeves yelled through the hallway. Allison was by his side within two seconds.  
"Yes father?" The little girl questioned. Her father leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Allison walked over to her sister and hugged her.  
"I heard a rumor-" She whispered in her ear. "that you forget that you have powers and get really tired." The girl in her arms almost fell to the ground if it wasn't for Allison. She laid her sister in her bed and walked back to her father.  
"Now, Number Three, let Number Seven forget." Her father demanded.  
"Do I need to let the others forget too?" The girl asked shyly.  
"No, I need you to know if things get out of hands. Number Seven is only a liability. She can easily blab it out." Her father explained before walking back to his office.

_ Now _

"No, no, no, you all knew!" Zariah took a step back from Allison, but her sister only got closer.   
"I didn't know any better. I'm sorry, Zariah, I'm so sorry."  
"You could at least have told me when the old man passed away." Tears were running down her cheeks.  
"I know and I'm sorry. We all are. But you need to come with me. It isn't save here."  
"Save?! Just as save as being at home with siblings I, apparently, cannot trust?"  
"Zariah, please." Allison pleaded.  
"I'm not coming with you." It felt to Zariah like she had been angry all the time since she stopped taking her medicine. Something inside her clicked. It was like she had become one with the earth.  
"I don't want to do this, but you leave me no choice. I-" Zariah knew where this was going. She now had two options. Option one: Kill her sister or at least get her to stop talking. Option two: leave before she can say anything. It was as if her powers had listened to her as she was lifted into the sky on a piece of rock. She was to angry to be amazed by her own powers and to distracted to notice a stone wall that had formed around the house, letting no light shine through. She could hear Allison's car driving away in the distance as she herself fell into bed next to Jake.


	9. Chapter 8: I heard a rumor

"Where are you?" Zariah walked down the stairs, but stopped as she heard Jake whisper-yell into the phone. "That was a stupid thing to do." There was a silence for a few seconds as he was listening to the response Zariah couldn't hear. "Yeah, I think she got it. Problem is: she built a wall around our house, so now we can't leave." "Yeah, I get her there in time." "Don't worry, we're going to destroy them. They're going to pay for what they did, for what they are. I got to go." He hung up after that. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and came face to face with Zariah.  
"What- who- why?" Was all that came out of her mouth.  
"Just let me explain." He raised his hands as if trying to calm a wild animal.   
"You used me!" Zariah almost yelled at him.   
"No, no, no. Just let me explain." He pleaded.  
"I heard you on the phone. Who were you talking to? Who are you really? I should've trusted Klaus." she took a few steps back up the stairs.   
"Alright, my name is Kevin Hunter and I-"   
"Wait, I've heard that name before. Aren't you that guy who killed his dead? You got free a few weeks ago." A smirk appeared on his face.  
"Jup, that's me." He confirmed with jazz-hands.   
"I'm leaving." She tried to walk past him, but he wrapped an arm around her waist.   
"No, you aren't. Think about it. You are nothing without me. You wouldn't have known about your powers without me. Hell, you would still be on those pills your father gave you!" He started yelling. Zariah's eyes turned a mud brown.  
"Don't. You. Dare." Her voice got dangerously low. All kinds of rock were now flying in circles around her.   
"It's true and you know it!"  
"SHUT UP!" The rock that were circling her flew towards the man, piercing right through him and leaving holes in his body. He looked down in shock as she looked the same way at him. The brown left her eyes and she fell to her knees. The rocks fell down to the ground. Jake fell to the ground a second later, laying flat on his back. Blood was spilling out of his mouth and wounds, coloring the ground crimson red. "What did I do?" She questioned herself with eyes as wide as plates. Her right hand slipped over her mouth while the other touched the, now dead, man. A loud roar was heard and there was light shining through the windows again. Her wall had fallen down.

_ ~ inside the Hargreeves mansion ~ _

Pogo looked up from his book as the phone rang. He stood up slowly and walked over to it to pick it up.  
"Hargreeves."   
"Pogo? I need you to get ready."   
"What is the matter, miss Allison?" Pogo questioned although he had already his suspicions.   
"It's Zariah. She knows about her powers and how to use them, more or less at least. She also knows about us knowing."  
"I will get to it immediately. Drive save, miss Allison." Pogo hung up the phone and made his way over to the kitchen, where he knew the remaining siblings were.

"Jesus. Who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee?" Five complained after taking a sip from the coffee he had stolen from Luther.   
"Can we get started?" A hungover Luther asked his brothers.   
"Anyone seen any of the others? Diego? Allison? Zariah? No?" Klaus questioned. "All right, then, this is the closest thing to a quorum that we're gonna get. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out."   
"This is a bad idea." Ben sighed and looked at the only brother that could actually see and hear him.   
"Yeah. I conjured Dad last night." Number one and five looked at eachother.  
"You said you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years." Luther commented.  
"Ah, yes, I know, but I'm sober. Ta-da!" Klaus was getting really happy about it. "I got clean yesterday, to talk to someone special, and then ended up having this conversation with dear old Daddy himself." Klaus explained as Ben sighed again.   
"Has anyone got some aspirin?" Luther dismissed him.  
"Top shelf, next to the crackers." Five responded to Luther's question.   
"This is serious, guys, all right? This really happened, I swear." It was now Luther to be the one sighing.  
"Okay, fine. I'll play. What did the old man have to say?"  
"Well besides the usual lecture and yada yada yada, he told me to watch out, but I didn't get for who. Oh and he mentioned something about his murder, or lack thereof, because-"  
"Wait for it." Ben cut in as he raised his finger.  
"He killed himself."   
"I don't have time for your games, Klaus."   
"Master Klaus is correct." Pogo cut in, coming walking in behind Five. "Regretfully I helped master Hargreeves enact his plan."   
"What?" Luther questioned in disbelieve.  
"So did Grace and your sister in some way. It was a difficult choice for the both of us. More difficult than you could ever know. Although you cannot hold mis Zariah accountable for her actions, for we had drugged her beforehand so she would forget." Pogo stepped forward. "But there are more pressing moments right now. How I would like to enlighten you about your father's passing, we need to get ready."  
"For what?" Five questioned. Even Ben was sitting at the edge of his seat.  
"Zariah is coming and she knows."   
"Shit." Klaus and Ben mumbled at the same time, although the rest could only hear Klaus.  
"This was one of the reasons your father had to die. He had to get the team back together. Even if he had to die for it."  
"Sick bastard." Five scoffed.   
"Why didn't you tell us about Dad's death?" Luther questioned Pogo.  
"It was his dying wish."  
"We've been lied to by the only person in the house we trusted." Luther was getting angry and walked out. Five rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands.  
"So, where is Zariah a we speak?" Five asked the ape.  
"I do not know, but I do expect her to come here today to get some answers." Pogo told the boy.  
"I got to think." Five said to no one in particular before spacial jumping away. Ben sat back and sighed.

_ ~ Zariah ~ _

She sat in her car, blood covering her hands and shirt. She was driving mindlessly until her car suddenly stopped at it's destination. She took a quick look outside her car and sighed. The academy. Of course her mind would drive her back to the place she had been for almost thirty years. She got out of the car, the places where her hands had touched stayed red. She waited as a familiar face turned the corner of the street and heading into the house after a few seconds. She soon followed her brother in, stumbling most of the way. She felt weak as shock was still in her. She opened the door to her house, leaving another red stain on the door handle.  
"Zariah?" She looked up at Diego who stood facing her with wide eyes. "What happened?" He took a few steps and grabbed her hands in his, examining the blood.  
"I- I didn't mean to, I-"  
"Diego. We need to t-" Five walked in, but stopped as soon as he saw his sister. He took a small sprint over to her. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist and led her to the bathroom. There was surprisingly a hot bath already set for her. She sat down on the side as he spacial jumped away. It was only seconds later that he came back with a glass in his hands. Klaus came in a little later with towels in his hands and Diego following him.  
"Drink this." Five held the glass in front of her, but as soon as he noticed that there wasn't any response, he brought it up to her lips and poured it in.  
"What is this?" Zariah's eyes went wide as she tasted what came into her mouth, suddenly out of er shock. She tried to spit it out, but Five held a hand on her mouth and Diego pinched her nose shut, so she would swallow. The ground started to rumble before it quieted down again and Zariah's body relaxed completely.  
"I'm sorry." He whispered as he kissed the top of her head while supporting her with the help of Diego and Klaus. They lowered her into the tub, fully clothed, and started washing her. The water turned red as the almost dried blood left her skin. Her eyes were wide, but far away.  
"So, what did you give her?" Diego asked as he sat on the side, preffering to stay out of the way instead of making their job harder.  
"The medicine Dad made for her. I knew he had a spare liquid bottle in case of emergency." Klaus answered. His tone was empty as he looked at his sister. Ben was standing behind him, looking at his sister with pity.  
"She didn't deserve this." He commented. Klaus just nodded slightly, but it was enough for Ben to notice.

"I know you hate the idea, but it is the safest place right now." Five argued.  
"We can't just lock our sister up, Five!" Diego was pacing around.  
"It's not like we can take her with us."  
"She is our sister, for God's sake!"  
"And you know what she can do!"  
"Klaus, say something." Both brothers looked at the third of the party.  
"I- I agree with Five. We can't control her and we need to get Allison." Klaus looked beside him, where Ben was standing. Ben only nodded. "Ben agrees with me." This was the first time in a while that they had been on the same page. Five turned around to where a still mostly wet Zariah was sitting on the couch staring into space. He crouched down in front of her and took one of her hands. He pulled her up gently while Diego got to her other side. They led her through the corridors until they came to the the stairs that were opposite from the children's bedrooms. Klaus traced the wood with his fingers until he found what he was looking for. He pushed the button and a door opened. He stepped inside, checking the room first before his brothers led his sister in. There was a small window that could only be uncovered from the outside, a bed, a toilet and there was a slot to pass food through.   
"Tell me how this works again?" Diego looked at the smallest among them.  
"The room is made out of superstrong material that shouldn't allow her powers to reach the earth or any other planet for that matter." Five explained for what he felt like for the sixth time.  
"Shouldn't?" Diego raised an eyebrow.  
"There is a 90% chance of her not being able to use her powers in here."  
"In other words: we're doomed if she can get the other 10%." Klaus commented.  
"Let's just hope she can't." They all left the room and locked the door. Diego removed the piece of wood that was blocking the window. Light was now able to flow into the small room.  
"Let's get Luther. Allison might be in danger." Diego sighed as he turned around and made his way outside. Five took one last look at his sister, who was laying on the bed with her eyes closed, most likely asleep. He might not have shown it, but he doubted if this was the right decision. So he kept reminding himself that she was dangerous. She could end the world if she wanted.

Zariah woke up confused. Everything around her was dark, the only light coming into the room through a small square window that showed an empty hallway. Something in her mind clicked.

_ ~ 19 years ago ~ _

The door slammed shut as soon as she had entered the horrifying room.  
"Please, Dad, let me out!" She begged while hitting the glass. She was well aware that the older man was able to see and hear her, but chose to ignore her. Tears of fear slid down the 11-year-old girl's cheek. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt him! It was an accident." She whispered the last part as guilt started to boil up in her. She had accidentally hit Luther with one of her spikes when he wouldn't stop bugging her about getting up to go on mission. She hadn't hurt him that bad, only a scratch on the arm, but their father saw it as a good enough reason to lock her up in the room that had given her nightmares. Though he had left the blinder of this time, letting at least some light into the dark room.

She had been in the room for hours, dried tears lying still on her cheeks, when Five walked passed with head down. They had just returned from their mission, saving some hostages or whatever.   
"Five! Please, Five, let me out!" She begged as she began hitting the glass again, but this time harder. He didn't respond. His head stayed low and he turned away from her to make his way to his room. She hit the wall next to the door one last time, making her knuckles bleed. She saw Five taking a quick glance at her, there was pity in his eyes.  
"Five, please." She whispered, knowing it wouldn't work either way. "I'm sorry."


	10. Chapter 9: Changes

Zariah heard commotion coming from the house. The other siblings had returned.   
"I will." She heard all of her brothers say at the same time. Something must've happened. There was some quiet talking, which she couldn't understand, when there was a sudden bang. It was as if one of them had fainted. 

It was after another hour had pasted that Zariah's head shot up. In front of her small window were standing three of her brothers. Three she could actually see at least.   
"How co-" She started but was cut of by Diego.  
"Do you know where Vanya is?" He asked. His eyes were in a mixture of anger, sadness and pity when he looked at her.   
"No, I-"   
"Please, tell us. I know you know something." Klaus pried.  
"What happened upstairs?" Zariah chose to change the subject.  
"That psycho that's with Vanya almost killed Allison." Diego explained calmly.  
"No, no, no. This isn't right." Zariah began pacing in the small room. Her right hand went through her still wet, long, brown hair as the left went to her mouth. She made small cirkles, since that was the only room she had to walk.  
"We only need to-" Klaus began.  
"Don't you dare touch her!" She threatened, getting very angry all of the sudden, scaring all of them. "Do with me whatever you'd like, but don't dare lay a finger on her. She's your sister for God's sake."  
"We don't want to hurt her, Zar. We wan't to save her." Diego explained calmly.   
"And she's OUR sister, Zariah. We're all one big family." Klaus chimed in.   
"Don't 'Zar' me. You lock me up in the one fucking place I still have nightmares from, even though I couldn't remember for most of my life. And I'm not your sister! I'm just a threat to eliminate."   
"No, you're not." Diego protested.  
"If I'm not, than let me out of this cel." The three boys looked between one another.   
"I'm sorry." Five whispered. He had been quiet the entire time, which was nothing for him. Klaus placed his hand on the old man's shoulder as he looked at his feet.  
"Zariah, do you know something we don't?" Diego asked.   
"Screw you!" She cried out. She turned her back towards them and slid down the door. The boys could now only see her legs. Five sighed as he made up his mind. He spacial jumped into the small room, crouching down next to his sister.  
"I'm really sorry, Zar." He placed his hand on her shoulder, which was an obvious mistake. She grabbed it to keep him in place and swung out her other hand to him. She had struck him right in the face, but not that hard. He looked away before spacial jumping back out of the room. Both Diego and Klaus looked at him with wide eyes.   
"Get some sleep." He told the girl who was still sitting on the ground with clenched fists. He placed the peace of wood back in front of the window, leaving Zariah in the darkness. Zariah let out a scream, which made the ground shake a little.  
"I thought-" Klaus began confused, but Five was the one to cut him off.  
"It will keep her powers at the minimum. You can't just remove someone's powers." He walked away after that, making his way to the car. 

Zariah had listened a lot that day. It was the only thing she still knew how to do. The room was to dark to see, it always smelled the same and it wasn't like she had a book to read. She at one point had heard Klaus and Five fight about Five being addicted to something and she had heard Luther scold at Pogo about being the least trust worthy, although she didn't agree with him on that part. Her siblings were the least trustworthy ones among them. There had been fighting in what sounded like the living room, which were probably her siblings, but there was also a voice she knew faguelily. It was hard to tell voices apart, since the walls muffled most of the sound.   
But then there was this sound she had hoped not to hear any time soon.   
"Hello?" Vanya's voice was heard and after that the worst of voices she could've hoped to hear.  
"Vanya." Luther answered her call.  
"Is Allison-"  
"She survived." Zariah let out a shaky breath. She might hate her siblings, but she didn't want any of them dead. And she knew there was a chance that it was Vanya that had hurt Allison, but she'd choose her over any other sibling any time.  
"Thank god."   
"What happened?"  
"We got in an argument. And things got out of control. I didn't mean to hurt her. Please, you have to believe me." Vanya pleaded.  
"I do." Zariah whispered as Luther said it.  
"It was an accident. And I was- I was angry, and uh, it just happened. Could I see her?"  
"No." Zariah whispered. She it was like she knew what Luther was thinking. If there was such a room for her than there had to be one for Vanya. Everything clicked inside her head and Luther's entire plan came to her. She knew her brother well enough to know how his idiotic small brain worked.  
"This is your home." Zariah heard Luther say. It was obvious she had zoned out for a bit and missed a part of their conversation. She could hear Vanya cry and apologizing over and over. It was as a surprise to her that none of her other siblings had gone to her. It was quiet for a few seconds until the entire building began to shake, but it wasn't her this time.   
"Shit." She whispered while getting up. The wooden plank fell down onto the ground and led light stream back into her small cage. She started hitting the door as hard as she could, but it didn't work. There was no way she could get out to save her sister. The quake lasted about thirty seconds before it died down. "No." Zariah whimpered. 

About half an hour had pasted before her siblings came back to see her. Zariah gasped as she saw Allison. A big, white band aid covered her throat. She had a notepad and pen in her left hand, which meant she couldn't talk. A tear of shock rolled over old dried tears on Zariah's cheek. Luther walked in front of her with a tray of food in his hand.   
"Allison, I-" Zarriah swallowed back a sob.  
"Not your fault or Vanya's." She showed on her notepad after writing it down, she had already sensed that Zariah knew that Vanya had done it. Luther, obviously disagreeing, opened a small door and shoved the tray inside before closing it again.   
"Eat." He said without any hint of emotion. Allison hit him on his arm, obviously disagreeing with his behaviour.  
"Screw you, Luther." She glared at him through the glass. She took the tray and threw it against the wall, which was now covered in mashed potatoes, apple sauce and beans.   
"I'm not bringing you a new one." Luther scoffed  
"Leave me the fuck alone." Zariah yelled while still glaring at Allison. The monkey-man turned around and took Allison with him. Allison turned her head one last time and Zariah gave her one last warmish smile. She couldn't be mad at Allison. Her sister was the only one who had come for her when she was with Jake, even though she had rejected her help then. She sat down on her bed and let her mind wander. She missed her siblings, not the same siblings she had right now, but the siblings she used to have.

_ ~ 14 years ago ~ _

Zariah woke up with a start. He heartbeat was going way too fast and her hands were shaking. She had the same nightmare pretty often. It was about some dark room she'd be locked up in, although she didn't know if it was an actual room or not. She had no memory of it. She balled her hand in to a fist and stuffed it against her mouth, holding back a cry, but she must've made some noise. Someone was coming towards her room. It had always been Five who had calmed her down after nightmares, but since he disappeared... None of her siblings knew about them and she always hid it from them, lieing about being tired because she had been reading the entire night.   
"Are you okay?" Ben's soft voice sounded from the door. Zariah turned around in her bed, now facing the wall. She didn't want him to worry about her.   
"I'm fine." She mumbled.  
"No, you're not. I heard you from a few rooms away." Zariah turned around with glassy eyes. Ben was standing halfway into her room. His eyes were still half closed, but he was fully allert somehow.   
"Just a nightmare." She mumbled.  
"Have those a lot?" Zariah didn't feel like lieing anymore, so she nodded. He took a few pases over to her and sat down by her side. She sat up to make room for him. He sat down on her left side and pulled her down so her head was resting on his lap. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked her to which she shook her head. She just burried her face into his abdomen as he played with her hair. It took her about five minutes until she could fully relax and fell back asleep, Ben still sitting there. Ben looked down at his sister and sighed. "You will always have me. Don't worry." 

~ 13 years ago ~

A 16-year-old Zariah sat in her room, an old novel in her hands. She couldn't concentrate though. Her siblings had gone on a mission half a day ago, but never returned. Even Vanya, who usually played her violin in their absense, had gone quiet. The silence lasted until there was a sudden argument starting in the hallway.   
"I'm not telling her." Luther said matter of factly.  
"Dips on Vanya!" Klaus yelled before running off to presuemably Vanya's room.   
"Let me-" Allison started, but was cut off.   
"I- I'll go." Diego stuttered. There was sadness in his voice, but she couldn't find out why. There was a moment of deadly silence, the tension clearly in the house, before Diego had knocked on the door.  
"Come on in, Diego." Her voice was cheery and her eyes shone bright, but that light dimmed as soon as she saw his grim expression.   
"Zar- Zariah. I- I- I-" He sighed, closing his eyes before continueing. "I'm sorry. B- B- Ben d-d- died." A tear rolled down the boy's cheek as he remembered his brother's death. He was still in his mission uniform, they had clearly just gotten back.  
"No." Zariah whispered in shock. "No, he can't be. This is just a joke, this is-" She stood up from where she sat and started to pace in circles through her room. She stopped when a hand touched her shoulder. Tears rolled down and her lips started to quiver. Diego opened his arms and she took the invite and hugged her brother, crying into his shoulder. The boy himself also cried, but less. He wanted to stay strong for his 'little' sister. There was a small trembling in the ground, but she dismissed it as either Luther running down the hallway or Klaus blowing something up. For now she just wanted to stay in his warm embrase and forget about the bleek world. 

_ ~ Now ~ _

Zariah looked at her feet. She really missed Ben. She had never found out how he died, her siblings wouldn't tell her, but she assumed it was gruesome.

Several hours went by and Zariah was laying on her bed facing the wall. Even though she was getting hungry, she would never admit it. There came a sudden crash, which made her shoot up right. Either Luther had demolished something again with his big, hairy, ape-hands or something big had happened. It was when everything began to shake that she knew that Vanya did it. She had broken free.


	11. Chapter 10: The White Violin

Zariah watched as dust started to fall from the ceiling. The whole house started shaking and she tried to stand, but almost immediately fell to the ground. Not a minute later Vanya started walking past, followed by a lot of explosions. They looked at each other. Locking eyes, her eyes a bright white, while Zariah's eyes were her usual hazel brown color.   
"Vanya, please! Help me!" Zariah screamed for help as she slammed against the glass. But Vanya turned away. She didn't blow the cell that held her sister, but wouldn't help her. Zariah felt betrayed. "No, no, no-" Another explosion sounded, this one being hard enough to crack the glass. Fear overtook Zariah, stone came through the glass, smashing it completely. It formed a ball around her, protecting her from everything that happened.

"Shit. Mom. Mom!" Diego yelled as he saw his mother.   
"Mom! Get out of there now!" Klaus and Diego yelled at their mother.   
"I'm coming after you!"  
"No, Diego! No!" Klaus held his brother back. That was when the house broke down with a crash. 

"Mom!" Diego searched the rubble for their mother. "Klaus, come here. Help me search." Klaus shared a look with his dead brother.   
"Diego. Just stop it. Stop."  
"Let me go. What are you doing?"  
"Stop. Stop. She's gone." Klaus pulled Diego back.   
"What do you wanna do? You wanna- wanna w- w- walk away from this?"  
"No."  
"What about Pogo?"  
"He didn't make it." Luther came from behind a mountain of crushed stone.  
"What?"  
"Vanya killed him." Klaus and Ben shared another look.   
"But Vanya wouldn't-" Diego couldn't believe it.   
"No, I saw it. Just before we got out."  
"Wait, we? Where is Zariah?" Klaus spoke up, not seeing his sister.   
"I thought you would get her." Diego chimed in, pointing at Luther.   
"I didn't- she was too dangerous. I couldn't take her with me, while also having to take care of Allison."  
"She's your sister, damn it!" Diego yelled. "Mom, now Pogo and Zariah." He sat down.   
"Guys!" Five came running over the rubble. "This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today."  
"I thought you said it was over." Luther responded.  
"I was wrong, okay?"  
This newspaper, I found it in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn't changed."   
"No, that doesn't mean anything." Diego denied. "Time could've been altered since that newspaper came out this morning."  
"You're not listening to me. When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are. The moon's still shining, the earth is in one piece, but not the academy." Klaus ripped the paper out of the boy's hands.   
"I'm confused."  
"Then listen to me, you idiot! Vanya destroys the academy before the apocalypse. I thought Harold Jenkins and Kevin Hunter were the cause, but they were just the fuse. Vanya is the bomb and Zariah was probably just an extra. Vanya causes the apocalypse. Speaking of, where is Zariah?"  
"She-" Klaus began, but Luther cut him of.   
"We don't have to worry about her anymore."  
"You mean she's under there? Shit." Five was about to burst out in anger, but helicopter blades whirred above them.   
"We gotta go, now!"  
"Regroup at the Super Star. Go!" Luther ordered. They all split up, running away from all the attention.

Little did the siblings know that their sister was listening in to them. Under the rubble, in her ball of stone, she could hear everything they said.   
"Extra?" Zariah mumbled to herself. "I'll show you extra." Loud thunder like noise came as her stone ball burst into bits. She rose on a plateau of stone, her eyes mud brown, no white or pupil. Her long brown hair waved in the wind, light illuminating her frame. It was like the earth and herself were one. Not just the earth. She could feel every solid planet as one of her. Rocks started flying up into the air, forming some sort of stairs for her to walk down from. She wanted to prove herself. Show her siblings that she wasn't just some extra. She was powerful, they should fear her. It was lucky for her she knew the exact place to go. Her siblings were going to stop Vanya, so they were probably going to the Icarus Theater. She looked down at her clothes. There was no way she was going there in her still wet, torn clothes. She walked around the city, people kept their distance. The ground cracked behind her with every step she took.

She walked into a store and grabbed a white blouse, a black skirt and black ankle boots. She changed into them and walked passed the counter. The man behind it wanted to stop her, but a stone spike pierced through his abdomen as she raised her hand. She proceeded to make her way out of the store, ignoring the stares and screams. There were police cars in the distance, but she kept walking, the cracks in the ground getting bigger with every step. She made her way to the concert hall, passing the Super Star on her way. There were men with guns entering the bowling alley. Probably to kill Five. She needed to prove herself to her siblings, so she needed them alive in the concert hall. She decided to enter the bowling alley, killing a few of the soldiers outside.   
"The lanes! Let's go!" Zariah heard Luther yell. Not a second later, four of her siblings were running down the lanes, trying to not get shot. She stepped on the ground, making it shake as her siblings dived against the cones. Klaus was the only one looking back. They had locked eyes for a second before he dove too. All of the attention was now on Zariah. She smirked at the soldiers as they pointed their guns at her.   
"Let's play." They started shooting, but all their bullets were blocked by floating rocks.   
"My turn." She laughed. The floating rocks shot in every way, killing all of the soldiers in a matter of seconds.   
"Well, that was a short game." She fake pouted. She looked around, there was a mother with a few boys sitting behind some chairs. She gave them a quick smile before leaving the hall. She knew a short cut to the Icarus Theater. She arrived within five minutes.   
"You can't go in here." A security guard stopped her as she tried to enter through back exit that connected right to the backstage of the theater.   
"Says who?"  
"Says me." The big bald man crossed his arms, blocking the door with his body.   
"Well, to bad for you." She smirked and he looked at her frightened, finally noticing her eyes. Pieces of stone started to float behind her, shooting forward as she nodded towards him. Holes littered his body, blood flowing out of him as he fell to the ground. She opened the door. Deciding to stay hidden for a while, she let the ground under her feet rise into the air. As soon as she was inside she flew a few feet into the air, now unnoticed by anyone who was in the theater. She watched with a smile as the orchestra started the song. Vanya looked beautiful and in her place. She followed Vanya's eyes as they looked at someone who made her smile. In the path, Allison was standing with a proud smile on her face. Zariah looked between her sisters. She had longed for this kind of connection ever since they came back to the house, but she knew they would never have it. She had been an outcast, a disgrace, as her father would often call her. She was shaken out of her thoughts when her brothers, who she hadn't noticed, were suddenly thrown off the stage by a blast. People were screaming and trying to run, but with one swoop of her bow, Vanya kept the orchestra in place as they kept on playing the song.   
"Move, go, go, go, go." Diego yelled at the people trying to flee.   
"She's stronger than expected." Diego commented as he sat beside Luther hiding behind chairs.   
"Yeah." Luther confirmed out of breath. He looked at Allison as a purse hit his shoulder. "Yeah. We're fine, thanks for asking." He commented sarcastically. "Look, I almost lost you once, all right? I wasn't about to lose you again."  
"Well, so much for the element of surprise. What else you got?" Diego questioned Luther. Allison asked for attention by hitting the chair she was hiding behind. She mimicked Vanya playing the violin.   
"No shit, Allison. Tell us something we don't already know."  
"She's talking about the violin." Luther explained. Both him and Allison looked at Vanya. "It's her lightning rod. If we can take it from her and stop her from playing, we might have a shot." They ducked back in their hiding spot as guns began firing at them for the second time that night. Zariah looked up. She has been watching her siblings closely, maybe too close, that she hasn't noticed the infiltrates. Vanya now allowed the orchestra to leave, not wanting to endanger their lives anymore. Though she kept playing. A blue flash got Zariah's attention.   
"What's with all the lollygagging?" She heard him say. The men started shouting at him so he ducked behind another row of chairs. None of the gunmen fired at Vanya, which was comforting to Zariah. She looked her siblings, although she couldn't hear their voices above the gunfire. Knives flew to the air, Klaus came running in warning them about Cha-Cha and Five was attacking one of the men. Zariah looked in amusement at how weak her siblings looked. But her attention went to blue fists as Klaus stood up from his spot. All his power was showing as someone Zariah had never expected to see appeared. Ben's blue form was standing there, tentacles coming out of his stomach, killing all the soldiers. Zariah's eyes turned back into their normal colors for a few seconds. Her eyes grew soft, seeing the one sibling she had missed the most, maybe because she had missed him the longest, not counting Five as they had never been as close. Five had always cared for her, but Ben was something different. She was ripped out of her thoughts as Diego flew through the air, attacking Cha-Cha. Zariah watched between the two fights, not wanting to lose Cha-Cha from her sight, but wanting to take in every moment that she could she of her dead brother. A Ben disappeared She turned her full attention back to Diego's fight, her eyes back in the mud brown color. She watched him break down, leaving the woman alive. Zariah scoffed. She didn't agree with him. When he was gone she threw a spear of stone down, piercing it through the woman. No one would know about it. In one way she regretted not having done something already, but it was Vanya's time to shine now. Her's would come later. She watched her siblings gathered around discussing their next plan as if they were a football team.   
"I'm sorry Allison. There is no time. If she finishes this concert the world will go up in flames." Luther apologised to his sister. Vanya's shone as bright as the sun. Her light in some way beautiful and powerful. The whole theatre was shaking and cracks were in all walls.   
"Now!" Luther yelled. All four brothers ran towards their sister. Diego, unknowing, from under Zariah. They had all been too focused at their sister to have noticed her. Vanya struck out with her bow again, their brothers were now levitating in the air, sucking the life out of them. She looked so calm. Zariah looked at her brothers with a smirk. They deserved this, didn't they? A shot sounded, causing Vanya to fall unconscious. Zariah looked at &Allison, who stood with pistol in her hands. Vanya's light dimmed slowly, her clothing going back to black.   
"NO!" Zariah yelled. That wasn't supposed to happen. All of her siblings, except for the unconscious Vanya, looked up to where she was still floating in the air.   
"Zariah?!" Five looked at her in shock.   
"Shit. This is what dad warned us for." Luther commented. Allison got him on the shoulder with her notepad. 'Talk to her!' Was written on it.   
"Zariah, please, just listen!" Diego begged her.   
"I've heard enough." A scowl was on her face as the earth began to shake. Stones were flying all around them in circles. Klaus tried to make Aben solid again, but his mojo has run out. Diego threw his knives, but they got stuck in the stones that Zariah blocked them with. Zariah was too focused on her adult looking siblings that she had forgotten about little number Five. The boy special jumped behind her on the rock she was standing on, which caused her to lose her balance for a moment. He took that second to throw his arms around her neck from behind, making them almost fall off.   
"I'm sorry, Zar." He apologised beforehand at the thought of what he was going to do, but Zariah wouldn't let him. She let a thin stone wall rise between them, making Five fall off her. He tumbled all the way down, but was caught by Luther.   
"What are we're going to do?" Diego asked number one.   
"We need to get her to stop before she makes everything worse." Luther looked up at his sister who was beginning to come down, walking majestically down stone stairs. He then looked down at Allison who sat with Vanya's head in her lap. She just nodded.   
"I'm about to prove you that I'm not just some 'extra'." Zariah told Her siblings once she landed on the stage. She eyes Five for a second. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. She could feel everything. All planets, Marz, Jupiter, Venus, the Earth. She could feel all their moons. Her eyes snapped open again and she smirked. Pieces from every planet, moon and comet started to rain down to the earth. The building was starting to break down, the glass ceiling shattering above them.   
"Zariah! You need to stop! This isn't you!" Diego pleaded.   
"You don't know me! You've lied to me, treated me as an outsider, left me alone with dear old dad, drugged And left me to die!" Her voice almost cracked with the emotion that has started to build up in her.   
"I know how you feel, but-" Luther began.  
"You do not, and never will, know how I feel. You were dad's favourite, always been." The four boys looked at each other again. They had to make her stop if they wanted a chance to save the world. Klaus, Diego and Five advanced on Zariah, while Luther stood protective in front of the two sisters. Zariah raised her hand into the air and millions of pebble shot their way. Their torso was held on the ground, while their legs, arms and head were still free.   
"Zariah, please don't. Mom wouldn't have wanted this." Zariah looked at Diego.   
"You know nothing about what mom wanted! Was it You that was there for her when everyone had left? Was it you who had taken care of her when dad died? Didn't think so." Zariah has been too occupied with Diego that she hasn't noticed Five behind her. The boy has teleported bring her when Diego was distracting her.   
"I'm sorry." He whispered before hitting her on the head with a stone that was laying on the ground. Zariah fell down, the world seemed to calm down, except for all the rocks that were still falling down from the sky. Zariah tried to fight, but blackness soon surrounded her as she fell unconscious out her brothers feet. The polls that was laying on top of Diego and Klaus loosened and they were able to get away from it. Diego kneeled down next to his sister, taking Allison's example. He laid Zariah's head on his knees and stroked her hair with his fingers.   
"Are they alive?" Luther asked, eyeing both Allison and Diego.   
"Yeah." Both of them said in unison, although Allison was almost inaudible.   
"She is? Yeah?" Luther confirmed. "We did it. We saved the world." He exclaimed excitedly.   
"I hate to admit it, but I was wrong for a second time. I thought Vanya would be the big bomb, but she had been a mere distraction. They were after Zariah this whole time and we didn't even notice." Five seemed angry, but mostly at himself. Klaus looked back, looking through the window.   
"Uh, guys?" He said while pointing up at the sky. It was raining rocks from all over the universe and there was one big rock coming their way. It came directly from the moon.   
"You see that big moon rock coming towards us?"   
"That's not good." Luther mumbled.   
"So this is out, huh? So much for saving the world."  
"If only Sir Reginald could see us right now, huh?" Diego mumbled from his spot on the floor. "The Umbrella Academy. A total failure." He said a little louder.   
"At last we're together in the end. As a family." Luther stated.   
"This doesn't have to be the end." All siblings looked at Five.   
"What? What are you saying, Five?" Luther questioned.   
"I think I have a way outta here. But you gotta trust me in this."  
"Yeah, I don't think so."  
"No." The siblings dismissed.   
"Well, then, we might as well accept our fate, because in less than a minute, we're gonna be vaporised."  
"What's your idea then?" Diego questioned.   
"We use my ability to time travel. But this time, I'll take you with me."  
"You can do that?"  
"I don't know. I've never tried it before."  
"What's the worst that could happen   
"You're looking at it. A 58-year-old man inside a child's body. So there's that." Five scoffs. Diego looked down at his sister who looked so peaceful for once.   
"Oh, what the heel? I'm in."  
"Yeah, whatever. I'm in." Klaus agreed.   
"Me too. Allison looked at the woman who looked frightened. Allison nodded. "What about Ben?" Klaus turned around and faced his dead brother who also nodded.   
"Great, Yeah. He's in." Klaus told them.   
"Okay, great. Luther, grab Vanya. Diego, Klaus, you take Zariah." Five ordered.   
"Wait, should we be taking them?" Luther questioned. "I mean, if they are the cause of the apocalypse. Isn't that like taking the bomb with us? Especially Zariah."  
"The apocalypse will always happen. And they will always be the cause, unless we take them with us and fix them. No more lies, no more locking them up." They loon between each other and take each other's hands as far as possible. Luther having both arms around Vanya, so Allison touches his shoulder, Diego and Klaus having Zariah in the middle of them, her arms around their shoulders and their arm around her back to hold her up right while her head is resting in Klaus' shoulder. Ben holds on to Klaus' other shoulder. They all stay quiet as the same blue energie as the time that Five came back appears above them.   
"It's working!" Luther yells out above the loud noises from the blue energie.   
"Hold on! It's gonna het messy!" Five warns. He looks around the group. All off them having turned back into their 13-year-old selfs. Zariah's brown curls were going all over the place as the energie got stronger and stronger. They seemed ignorant of the world burning around them. They disappeared a second before the theater had gone up in flames. 


End file.
